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CANADIAN  WILDS. 


CANADIAN  WILDS 


TcDs  About  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  Northern 

Indians  and  Their  Modes  of  Hunting, 

Trapping:,  Etc 


BY 

MARTIN  HUNTER 


PUBLISHED  BY 

A.  R,  HARDING  PUBLISHING  CO. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO 


copyright  1907 
By  A.  R.  Harding  Publishing  Co. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter.  Page. 

I.     The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 7 

II.    The  Free  Trader  14 

III.  Outfitting  Indians   24 

IV.  Trackers  of  the  North 30 

V.     Provisions  for  the  Wilderness 38 

VI.    Forts  and   Posts 46 

VII.    About  Indians   53 

VIII.     Wholesome  Foods ". 60 

IX.     Officers'  Allowance  70 

X.     Inland  Packs   77 

XL     Indian  Mode  of  Hunting  Beaver  83 

Xll.  Indian    Mode  of  Hunting  Lynx  and  Mar- 
ten     96 

XIII.  Indian  Mode  of  Hunting  Foxes 103 

XIV.  Indian  Mode  of  Hunting  Otter  and  Mus- 

quash     109 

XV.     Rem.\rkable  Success   117 

XVI.    Things  to  Avoid 123 

XVII.    Anticosti  and  Its  Furs 132 

XVIII.     Chiselling  and  Shooting  Beaver 140 

XIX.     The  "Indian  Devil"    150 

XX.     A  Tame  Seal  158 

XXI.    The  Care  of  Blistered  Feet 167 

XXII.     Deer  Sickness   172 

XXIII.  •  A  Case  of  Nerve 180 

XXIV.  Amphibitious  Combats   185 

XXV.    Art  of  Pulling  Hearts 195 

(11 


Contents. 


Chapter.  Page. 

XXVI.    Dark  Furs  202 

XXVII.     Indians  Are  Poor  Shots 211 

XXVIII.    A  Bear  IN  THE  Water 215 

XXIX.    Voracious  Pike 220 

XXX.    The  Brass-Eyed  Duck 225 

XXXI.    Good  Wages  Trapping 232 

XXXII.    A  Pard  Necessary 239 

XXXIII.  An   Heroic   Adventure 243 

XXXIV.  Wild  Oxen  252 

XXXV.    Long  Lake  Indians 256 

XXXVL     Den  Bears   262 

XXXVII.    The  Mishaps  OF  Ralson 270 


MARTIN  HUNTER. 

(3) 


INTRODUCTION. 


BY  the  courtesy  of  Forest  and  Stream  and 
Hunter-Trader-Trapper  these  articles 
are  republished  in  book  form  by  the 
author. 

I  have  been  induced  to  bring  them  out  a  sec- 
ond time  under  one  cover  by  the  frequent  re- 
quests of  my  fellow  bushmen  who  were  kind 
enough  to  criticise  them  favorably  when  they 
first  appeared  in  the  magazine. 

In  this  preamble  I  think  it  proper  and  pos- 
sibly interesting  to  the  reader  to  have  a  short 
synopsis  of  my  career. 

I  entered  the  service  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  in  1863  as  a  clerk  and  retired  in  1903 
a  commissioned  officer  of  twenty  years'  stand- 
ing. 

The  modes  of  Trapping  and  Hunting  were 
learned  directly  by  personal  participation  in  the 
chase  with  the  Indians  and  the  other  stories 
heard  first  hand  from  the  red  man. 

My  service  in  the  employ  of  the  Great  Fur 
Company  extended  from  Labrador  in  the  East 

5 


6  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

to  Fort  William  on  Lake  Superior  in  the  West 
and  from  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the 
South  to  the  headwaters  of  its  feeders  in  the 
North. 

By  canoes  and  snowshoes  I  have  traveled  on 
the  principal  large  rivers  flowing  south  from 
the  height  of  land,  among  them  I  may  mention 
the  Moisee,  Bersimis,  St.  Maurice,  Ottawa, 
Michipocoten,  Pic  and  Nepigon. 

I  have  hunted,  trapped  and  traded  with  the 
Montagnais,  Algonquins  and  Ojibways,  the 
three  largest  tribes  that  inhabit  the  country 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  boundaries  and 
therefore  the  reader  can  place  implicit  reliance 
in  what  is  herein  set  forth.  Giving  a  sjmopsis 
of  the  history  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
its  Forts  and  Posts  and  the  Indians  they  traded 
with  as  well  as  other  incidents  of  the  Canadian 
wilds. 

Kespectfully, 

Martin  Hunter. 


CANADIAN  WILDS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  incorpor- 
ated in  the  j^ear  1670  and  received  its  charter 
from  Charles  the  Second,  making  it  today  the 
longest  united  company  that  ever  existed  in  the 
world. 

In  1867  when  the  different  provinces  of  old 
Canada  were  brought  under  the  Dominion  Con- 
federation, the  Company  ceded  its  exclusive 
rights,  as  per  its  charter,  to  the  government  of 
Canada,  making  this  vast  territory  over  which 
the  Company  had  held  sway  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years,  free  for  hunters,  trappers  and 
traders. 

Prince  Rupert,  of  England,  was  associated 
with  the  first  body  of  "Adventurers  Trading 
into  Hudson's  Bay,"  for  such  were  they  desig- 
nated in  the  charter  and  the  charter  gave  them 
the  right  to  trade  on  all  rivers  and  their  tribu- 
taries flowing  into  Hudson's  Bay. 

They  established  their  first  forts  or  factories 

7 


8  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

at  the  mouths  of  the  principal  rivers  that  fall 
into  the  bay  on  the  east,  south  and  west  shores, 
such  as  East  Main,  Rupert's,  Moose,  Albany, 
Churchill  and  a  few  intermediate  small  out- 
posts along  the  seashore.  They  endeavored  to 
draw  the  interior  Indians  down  to  the  coast  to 
trade  but  after  a  few  years  they  found  that  the 
long  journey  to  the  factories  took  up  so  much 
of  the  Indian's  time  and  left  them,  after  their 
return  to  their  hunting  grounds,  so  exhausted 
from  their  strenuous  exertions  in  negotiating 
the  turbulent  and  swift  flowing  waters,  that  the 
company's  management  decided  to  stretch  out 
and  establish  trading  places  up  the  different 
rivers. 

This  small  beginning  of  a  post  or  two  up 
each  river  was  gradually  continued  ever  further 
south,  ever  further  west,  as  the  requirements  of 
the  fur  trade  necessitated,  there  the  company 
pushed  in  and  followed  their  own  flag,  a  blood 
red  ground  with  H.  B.  C.  in  white  block  letters 
in  the  center. 

This  flag  is  knoAvn  from  Labrador  to  the 
Pacific  and  from  the  St.  Lawrence  river  to  the 
Arctic  regions.  Several  would-be  wits  have 
given  these  m3'sterious  letters  odd  meanings. 
Among  several  I  call  to  memory,  "Here  Before 
Christ,"  "Hungry  Belly  Company"  and  "Here 
Before  Columbus." 


THE  HUDSON^S  BAY  COMPANY.  9 

Two  ships  visited  the  Bay  each  summer 
bringing  supplies  for  the  next  winter  and  tak- 
ing back  to  England  the  furs  and  oil  collected 
during  the  past  season.  The  coming  of  these 
ships,  one  to  York  Factory  and  the  other  to 
Moose  Factory,  was  the  event  of  the  year  as 
they  brought  the  only  mail  the  "Winterers"  re- 
ceived from  friends  and  relatives  in  far  away 
Old  England. 

Navigating  the  Bay  was  done  pretty  much 
by  the  rule  of  "Thumb."  Notwithstanding  its 
being  one  of  the  most  dangerous  bodies  of  water 
in  America  it  is  wonderful  (now  that  the  Bay  is 
fairly  well  charted  and  shows  up  most  of  the 
dangerous  reefs  and  shoals)  how  few  accidents 
these  old  navigators  had  in  taking  their  ships 
in  and  out  of  the  Bay. 

Much  depended  on  those  same  ships  reaching 
their  destination.  Starvation  would  confront 
the  officers  and  servants  in  the  country  and  the 
want  of  the  returns  in  England  during  those 
early  days  of  the  venture  would  have  been  a  se- 
rious setback  to  their  credit.  While  the  ships 
were  in  the  roadstead  unloading  and  loading  it 
was  an  anxious  time  to  the  captain  and  the  offi- 
cer ashore  for  as  the  work  had  to  be  done  by 
lighters  (the  ship  lying  three  miles  from  the 
land)  there  was  always  the  danger  of  a  strong 
wind  springing  up.     In  such  events  the  boats 


10  CANADIAN    WILDS. 

scurried  ashore  while  the  ship  slipped  her  cable 
and  put  to  sea  till  fair  weather. 

In  parting  with  their  charter  to  the  Cana- 
dian Government  the  company  reserved  certain 
acreages  about  each  and  every  one  of  their  forts 
and  posts  besides  two  sections  in  each  township 
from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  liocky  Moun- 
tains and  from  the  international  boundary  line 
to  the  northern  edge  of  the  Fertile  Belt.  These 
reserves  of  land  sold  to  the  incoming  settlers  as 
the  country  is  filling  up  is  a  great  source  of 
revenue  to  the  share  holders  and  are  becoming 
more  and  more  valuable  each  succeeding  year. 

Where  most  of  the  old  prairie  posts  stood  in 
the  old  days,  the  company  now  have  "Sale 
Shops"  for  the  whites  and  at  these  places  they 
are  successfully  meeting  competition,  by  the 
superiority  and  cheapness  of  the  goods  they 
supply. 

In  old  Canada  the  fur  trade  had  always  been 
the  principal  commerce  of  the  country  and  after 
the  French  regime  several  Scotch  merchants  of 
Montreal  prosecuted  it  with  more  vigor  than 
heretofore.  This  they  did  under  the  name  of 
"The  Northwest  Company."  Their  agents  and 
"Couriers  des  Bois"  were  ever  pushing  west- 
ward and  had  posts  strung  from  Ottawa  to  the 
Kocky  Mountains  and  all  the  pelts  from  that 


THE   HUDSON^S  BAY   COMPANY.  11 

immense  country  were  brought  yearly  to  the 
headquarters  in  Montreal. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  after  having 
inhabited  all  the  territory  that  they  could  right- 
ly claim  under  their  charter,  began  to  oppose 
the  Northwest  Company  in  the  country  they 
had  in  a  way  discovered.  The  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  after  gettng  out  of  the  Bay  found  the 
Northwest  Company's  people  trading  on  the 
Red,  Assiniboine  and  Saskatchewan,  all  rivers 
that  they  could  claim  by  right  of  their  charter 
seeing  they  all  drained  into  Hudson's  Bay  and 
then  began  one  of  the  keenest  and  most  bloody 
commercial  warfares  in  history. 

Might  was  right  and  wherever  furs  were 
found  the  strongest  party,  for  the  time  being, 
took  them.  Retaliation  was  the  unwritten  law 
of  the  country  and  what  was  this  week  a  Hud- 
son's Bay  post  was  next  week  occupied  by  a 
party  of  Northwesters  or  vice  versa.  There  is 
hardly  a  place  in  what  is  now  the  peaceful  and 
law  abiding  Manitoba  and  the  western  provinces 
but  what,  if  it  could  tell  the  tale,  had  witnessed 
at  some  time  in  its  early  history  sanguinary 
conflicts  between  the  two  powerful  and  rival 
companies. 

Things  got  to  such  a  pass  that  the  heads  of 
the  two  fur  parties  in  London  and  Montreal  saw 
that  something  had  to  be  done  to  stay  this  loss 


12  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

of  lives  and  goods.  Arrangements  were  there- 
fore made  that  the  majority  of  the  stockholders 
of  both  companies  should  meet  in  London. 
This  convention  had  its  first  meeting  on  the  19th 
of  May,  1821,  and  several  other  assemblies  of 
the  two  factions  took  place  before  all  the  points 
at  issue  were  mutually  agreed  upon. 

By  wide  mindedness  and  a  liberal  amount  of 
give  and  take  between  the  two  contending  par- 
ties a  full  understanding  was  agreed  on.  One  of 
the  points  upon  which  a  strong  objection  was 
made  was  the  sinking  of  one  of  the  identities, 
but  this  knotty  point  was  eventually  settled.  A 
coalition  of  the  two  companies  was  formed  un- 
der the  title  of  "The  Hudson's  Bay  Company," 
the  first  official  year  of  the  joined  parties  dating 
first  of  June,  1821,  and  the  first  governor,  Mr. 
George  Simpson,  afterwards  "Sir  George." 

Mr.  Simpson  was  knighted  by  Queen  Vic- 
toria for  having  traveled  from  Montreal  to  Lon- 
don by  land  with  the  exception  of  crossing  Beh- 
ring  Strait  and  the  English  Channel  by  boat. 

Sir  George  Simpson  held  the  position  of 
Governor  of  the  fur  trade  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  for  very  many  years  and  was  followed 
by  Governors  Dallas,  McTavish,  Graham  and 
Sir  Donald  A.  Smith  (now  Lord  Strathcona) 
after  the  latter's  term  of  office  the  title  of  this 
position  was   altered  to   "The   Commissioner." 


THE   HUDSON^S  BAY   COMPANY.  13 

The  first  gentleman  to  hold  the  management  un- 
der this  new  title  was  Mr.  Wriggley,  who  after 
serving  two  terms  of  four  years  each,  retired 
and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Chipman  who 
is  still  in  office  and  brings  us  down  to  the  pres- 
ent day. 

There  has  always  been  a  Governor  and  com- 
mittee in  London  where  the  real  headquarters 
has  ever  been,  while  the  Commissioner's  head 
place  in  Canada  is  situated  in  Winnipeg. 

The  whole  of  the  Great  Company's  collection 
of  furs  is  shipped  to  England  and  sold  by  auc- 
tion three  times  a  year,  in  January,  March  and 
October.  Buyers  from  all  over  Europe  attend 
these  sales. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  *^*^FREE   TRADER/^ 

The  origin  of  the  term  "Free  Trader"  dates 
back  considerably  over  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury and  was  first  used  as  a  distinction  by  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  between  their  own 
traders,  who  traded  directly  from  their  posts 
and  others  who  in  most  cases  had  been  formerly 
in  their  employ,  but  had  turned  "Free  Traders." 
Men  with  a  small  outfit,  who  roamed  amongst 
the  Indians  on  their  hunting  grounds  and  bar- 
tered necessary  articles  that  the  hunters  were 
generally  short  of. 

The  outfit  mostly  consisted  of  tobacco,  jww- 
der,  ball,  flints,  possibly  one  or  two  nor'  west 
guns,  white,  blue  and  red  strands  for  the  men's 
leggings,  sky  blue  second  cloth  for  the  squaw's 
skirts,  flannel  of  several  bright  colors,  mole  skin 
for  trousers,  a  few  H.  B.  cloth  capots,  fancy 
worsted  sashes,  beads,  ribbons,  knives,  scissors, 
fire  steels,  etc.  Some  of  the  foregoing  articles 
may  not  be  considered  necessary  requirements, 
but  to  the  Indian  of  those  days  they  were  so 
looked  upon  and  a  "Free  Trader"  coming  to  an 

14 


THE   FREE   TRADER.  15 

Indian's  camp  who  had  the  furs,  a  trade,  much 
to  the  trader's  profit  was  generally  done. 

In  those  away  back  days  the  Free  Trader 
was  always  outfitted  by  the  "Great  Company." 
He  endured  all  the  labor,  hardships  and  priva- 
tion of  following  the  Indians  to  their  far  off 
hunting  grounds  and  of  a  necessity  charged 
high  for  his  goods.  Being  a  former  servant  of 
the  company  he  got  his  outfit  at  a  reduced  price 
from  what  the  Indians  were  charged  at  the 
posts.  The  barter  tariffs  at  each  of  the  posts 
was  made  out  in  two  columns,  i.  e.,  Indian  Tar- 
iff and  Free  Man's  Tariff.  Say,  for  example,  a 
pound  of  English  tobacco  was  bartered  to  the 
Indian  at  the  posts  for  one  dollar  a  pound, 
the  Free  Trader  would  get  it  in  his  outfit  for 
75  cents,  and  when  he  bartered  it  to  some  hun- 
ter, probably  hundreds  of  miles  off,  he  would 
charge  one  and  half  to  two  dollars  for  the  same 
I>ound  of  tobacco. 

I  mention,  to  illustrate  the  amount  in  dol- 
lars and  cents,  but  the  currency  of  those  days 
all  over  the  northwest  and  interior  was  the 
"Made  Beaver."  As  a  round  amount  the  M.  B. 
was  equivalent  to  50  cents  of  our  money  of  to- 
day. At  all  the  posts  on  Hudson's  Bay  the  com- 
pany had  in  coinage  of  their  own,  made  of  brass 
of  four  amounts;  an  eight,  quarter,  half  and 
whole  Beaver.    The  goods  were  charged  for  at 


16  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

SO  many  or  parts  of  Made  Beaver  and  the  furs 
likewise  valued  at  the  same  currency. 

Like  most  uneducated  men  who  have  to  re- 
member dates,  people  and  places,  these  Free 
Traders  had  wonderful  memories.  One  who 
had  been  away  on  his  venture  for  eight  or  ten 
months  could  on  opening  his  packs,  tlio  there 
might  be  two  or  three  hundred  skins  in  his  col- 
lection, if  so  requested,  tell  from  what  particu- 
lar Indian  he  received  any  skin  picked  out  at 
haphazard. 

Observation  and  remembrance  entered  into 
every  phase  of  their  lives  as  it  does  into  that  of 
the  pure  Indian.  Their  very  lives  at  times  de- 
pended on  their  faculties  and  one  might  say  all 
their  bumps  were  bumps  of  locality  and  these 
highly  developed  all  the  waj'  back  from  child- 
hood. 

Of  their  nationality  they  were  mostly  French 
Canadians  or  French  half  breeds,  and  as  a  rule 
went  on  their  trading  expeditions  accompanied 
by  their  Indian  wives  and  children.  Time  was 
of  no  object  and  as  they  traveled  they  trapped 
and  hunted  as  they  went.  Their  very  living 
and  subsistence  depended  on  their  guns  and 
nets.  Loaded  as  they  were  Avith  goods  to  trade 
and  their  necessary  belongings  they  could  not 
take  imported  provisions.  After  their  hard- 
ships of  several  months,  after  the  breaking  up 


THE   FREE   TRADER.  17 

of  the  lakes  and  rivers,  they  once  more  found 
themselves  at  the  post  from  whence  they  re- 
ceived their  outfit. 

From  the  factor  down  to  the  old  pensioners, 
•the  people  of  the  fort  went  down  to  welcome  the 
new  arrivals.  Their  advent  was  heralded  by 
the  firing  of  guns  on  rounding  the  point  at 
which  they  first  came  in  view  of  the  post.  On 
landing  a  general  handshaking  was  gone  thru 
by  the  two  parties,  the  factor  mentally  estimat- 
ing the  probable  contents  of  the  rich  packs. 

The  men,  engaged  servants,  of  the  post,  car- 
ried up  to  the  house  the  peltries,  while  the  Free 
Traders  followed  the  factor  to  the  trade  shops 
where  a  plug  of  tobacco  for  the  men  and  sugar 
for  the  women  were  given  out  by  the  clerks  and 
with  a  generous  tot  of  rum  in  which  to  cement 
their  continued  friendship,  the  Free  Trader 
took  his  departure  to  put  up  his  tepee  and  get 
his  family  and  belongings  under  cover. 

Later  on  the  servants  brought  him  pork, 
lard,  flour  and  tea  enough  for  him  and  his  fam- 
ily for  supper  and  breakfast.  No  accounts  were 
gone  into  on  the  day  of  arrival.  The  next  morn- 
ing, however,  the  Trader  repaired  to  the  store 
with  the  factor  and  his  clerk,  the  latter  carrying 
his  ledger  and  day  blotter.  The  pads  being  un- 
laced the  different  kinds  of  skins  were  placed  in 

2 


18  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

separate  piles  and  then  classified  according  to 
value.  The  sum  total  being  arrived  at  the 
amount  of  his  outfit  and  supplies  being  de- 
ducted he  was  given  a  "bon"  on  the  trade  shops 
for  his  credit  balance. 

Shortly  after  the  Free  Trader  and  his  wife 
would  be  seen  in  the  shop  decking  themselves 
out  with  finery,  bright  and  gay  colored  clothes 
and  fixings  were  the  first  consideration.  After 
if  there  still  remained  a  credit,  luxuries  in  the 
eating  way  were  indulged  and  that  night  a  feast 
given  by  the  Free  Traders  to  the  employes  and 
hangers  on  at  the  post. 

Yes,  they  were  a  jolly,  childlike  race  of  men 
and  as  improvident  as  an  Indian  for  the  re- 
quirements of  tomorrow.  I  have  described  the 
Free  Trader  of  the  past,  and  now  I  propose  to 
describe  the  Free  Trader  of  today,  and  as  he 
has  been  for  the  last  two  decades. 

The  building  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  trans- 
continental road  brought  in  its  trail  a  class  of 
very  undesirable  men.  All  rules  have  excep- 
tions. I  must  therefore  be  just  and  not  con- 
demn all,  but  the  majority  of  them  were  toughs 
and  whiskey  peddlers.  They  were  the  forerun- 
ners of  the  Free  Traders  of  the  present  day, 
from  Mattawa  in  the  east  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  on  the  west.  They  would  start  from 
some  town  back  east  with  a  keg  of  the  strong 


THE  FREE  TRADES.  19 

alcohol,  a  few  cheap  gilt  watches,  some  fancy 
ribbons,  colored  shawls  and  imitation  meer- 
schaum pipes,  and  if  they  found  their  bundles 
would  bear  a  little  more  weight,  they  generally 
put  in  a  little  more  "whiskey."  They  could  al- 
most always  "dead-head"  their  way  up  the  line 
on  a  construction  train.  Any  place  where  they 
saw  a  few  camps  of  Indians  or  half-breeds  they 
dropped  off  with  their  stock  in  trade. 

Such  Indians  as  they  found  along  the  line 
were  not  hunters  but  they  could  act  as  guides 
to  the  Free  Trader,  and  for  a  gaudy  shawl  or  a 
few  bottles  of  whiskey  he  could  generally  enlist 
one  of  them  in  his  service.  With  an  old  canoe 
(furnished  by  the  Indian)  some  flour,  pork,  tea 
and  sugar,  they  could  push  their  way  up  some 
river  to  a  favorable  point  known  by  the  Indian, 
and  wait  the  canoes  of  trappers  coming  down 
on  their  way  to  one  of  the  Hudson  Bay  posts  at 
the  mouth  of  the  rivers. 

The  route  of  the  railway  cutting  the  large 
navigable  rivers  at  right  angles,  at  some  parts 
of  the  line,  as  much  as  a  couple  of  hundred  miles 
inland  of  our  posts  gave  the  Free  Traders  a 
great  advantage  as  they  could  intercept  the  In- 
dians coming  down  from  the  height  of  land. 
Even  to  those  Indians  who  had  never  tasted 
liquor  the  very  word  "fire-water"  had  a  charm 
and  an  allurement  not  to  be  resisted.    Probably 


20  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

the  whiskey  trader  could  keep  the  Indians 
camped  at  the  place  they  first  met  for  two  or 
three  days.  Once  he  had  got  them  to  take  the 
second  glass  he  could  name  his  own  price  for 
the  vile  liquor  and  put  his  own  valuation  on 
their  furs. 

I  have  heard  of  an  Indian  giving  an  otter 
skin  for  a  bottle  of  whiskey.  The  skin  was 
worth  |15  and  the  whiskey  possibly  thirty  cents. 
I  knew  positively  of  a  trapper  who  gave  a  new 
overcoat  worth  $6  for  a  second  glass  of  whiskey 
and  when  this  took  effect  on  his  brain,  for  a 
third  glass  he  gave  a  heavy  Hudson  Bay  blanket 
that  had  cost  him  $8.  The  trader  seeing  he  had 
nothing  else  worth  depriving  him  of  turned  him 
out  of  doors  on  a  bitter  February  morning. 

Since  these  men  have  overrun  the  country 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  has  spent  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  trying  to  protect  the  In- 
dians against  themselves.  The  laws  of  the 
Dominion  are  stringent  enough  as  they  are  set 
down  in  the  blue  book  of  the  Indian  Depart- 
ment, but  they  are  very  seldom  enforced.  The 
difficulty  is  to  get  sufficient  evidence  to  secure 
judgment  or  committal  of  the  offender. 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  seeing  the  giving 
of  liquor  to  Indians  abased  and  impoverished 
him,  abolished  it  by  a  law  passed  in  committee 
in  1853.     They  saw  that  selling  liquor  to  an  In- 


THE  FREE  TRADEE.  21 

dian  put  him  so  much  short  of  necessary  arti- 
cles to  make  a  proper  hunt,  it  weakened  his 
constitution,  laid  the  seeds  of  disease,  and  from 
a  business  point  of  view,  was  bad  policy. 

To  make  their  posts  perfectly  free  from 
liquor,  the  very  yearly  allowance  to  their  offi- 
cers, clerks  and  servants  was  discontinued  and 
each  employe  was  given  the  equivalent  as  a  cash 
bonus  at  the  end  of  each  year.  I  must  say  a 
white  man  or  two  amongst  a  drunken  band  of 
Indians  ran  considerable  risk;  several  have 
paid  for  their  greed  of  gain  Avith  their  lives. 
Amongst  the  Indians  many  lives  have  been  sac- 
rificed thru  the  liquor  curse,  shooting,  stabbing 
and  drowning  being  the  principal  results  of 
their  fatal  debauches. 

It  is  a  most  pitiful  sight  for  one  to  travel 
on  the  C.  P.  U.  line  and  see  at  the  stations  along 
the  interior  the  ragged  bodies  and  emaciated 
features  of  the  Indians  who  hang  about  the  sta- 
tions. These  are  some  of  the  good  hunters  of 
twenty-five  years  ago  and  their  descendants. 
Back  in  those  days  an  Indian's  advances  were 
only  limited  by  his  demands  on  the  company. 
He  took  only  what,  under  ordinary  luck,  he 
could  pay  for. 

To-day  hardly  one  of  them  can  get  trust  for 
a  dollar.  They  pass  their  summer  hanging 
about  the  stations,  the  women  doing  a  little  fish- 


22  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

ing  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  and  when 
the  cold  of  winter  drives  them  to  the  shelter  of 
the  forests,  they  have  nothing  necessary  to 
prosecute  a  hunt  even  if  they  had  the  strength 
and  energy  to  work.  If  one  of  their  children 
or  wives  is  lucky  enough  to  trap  an  animal,  the 
noble  head  of  the  family  tramps  off  to  the  near- 
est Free  Trader  and  barters  it  for  tobacco  and 
whiskey. 

Coming  back  to  the  Free  Traders  I  must 
mention  the  exception  to  the  general  run  of 
them.  In  different  parts  of  our  territory  or- 
ganized parties  of  twos  or  fours  have  tried  to  op- 
pose the  company  by  trading  in  a  straight  way, 
that  is,  giving  the  Indian  good,  strong  clothing 
and  good  provisions  in  exchange  for  his  furs, 
but  with  very  few  exceptions  the  life  of  these 
small  companies  has  been  shortlived  and  I 
only  know  of  one  or  two  who  made  money  by 
this  trading. 

The  rock  upon  which  they  invariably  come 
to  grief  is  giving  credit  to  Indians.  A  plausible 
story  in  the  spring  as  to  why  they  cannot  pay  is 
generally  accepted  by  the  Free  Trader  and  a  sec- 
ond outfit  given  the  next  autumn  with  the  idea 
of  enabling  them  to  pay  at  the  close  of  another 
hunting  season.  The  Trader  being  called  upon 
to  pay  up  his  supplies  in  either  ^lontreal,  To- 
ronto or  Winnipeg  causes  a  sudden  stoppage  to 


THE  FREE  TRADER.  23 

their  adventures  and  the  field  is  open  for  some 
other  party  to  go  and  have,  most  likely,  the  same 
disastrous  ending. 

No,  I  say  it  with  unbiased  mind  that  the 
opening  up  of  the  country  to  outsiders  was  a 
sorry  day  for  the  Indians.  While  they  were 
dealt  with  exclusively  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, they  had  the  care  and  guidance  of  a  par- 
ent, but  the  progress  of  settlement  cannot  be 
stayed  and  the  end  of  the  Indian  is  inevitable, 
and,  like  the  buffalo,  they  will  in  a  very  few 
years  be  of  the  past. 

The  Great  Company,  who  for  two  and  a  quar- 
ter centuries  has  been  identified  with  the  fur 
trade,  is  rapidly  becoming  a  company  of  shop- 
keepers in  the  new  towns  and  villages  of  the 
west.  With  the  disappearance  of  the  Indian 
will  go  the  last  of  the  class  of  men  who  caused 
his  undoing,  "The  Free  Trader." 


CHAPTER  III. 

OUTFITTING   INDIANS. 

In  these  days  of  keen  opposition  it  is  only  at 
the  remote  inland  posts  that  we  can  supply  the 
Indians  with  system;  that  is,  as  to  amount  of 
debt  and  a  fixed  time  for  sending  them  to  the 
hunting  grounds. 

Taking  Long  Lake  Post,  north  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, as  a  sample  to  illustrate  our  manner  in 
rigging  out  hunters,  I  will  say  we  appoint  the 
15th  of  September  as  the  first  day  of  supplies. 
On  that  day,  early  in  the  morning,  the  chief  and 
his  wife  are  called  into  the  store,  all  others  are 
excluded;  this  is  done  for  two  reasons  —  first, 
the  Indian  himself  does  not  like  the  others  to 
know  what  they  take,  or  the  amount  of  their 
debt;  and,  secondly,  we  find  that  when  others, 
who  are  only  onlookers  are  in  the  shop,  they 
distract  the  attention  of  the  Indian,  who  is  tak- 
ing the  outfit  and  delay  us  in  our  work.  The 
first  thing  done  after  the  door  is  closed  and 
locked  is  to  talk  over  the  pros  and  cons  with  the 
Indian  as  to  where  he  is  going  to  hunt,  and  his 
prospects,  and  from  this  an  amount  agreed  upon 
as  to  the  extent  of  his  new  debt. 

24 


OUTFITTING   INDIANS.  25 

This  settled,  we  suggest  that,  first  of  all, 
necessary  articles  should  be  marked  down ;  these 
we  mention  one  by  one  and  he  replies  if  he  has 
such  already,  good  enough  for  another  year,  or 
if  we  are  to  mark  down  the  article.  The  first 
essention,  of  course,  is  ammunition;  so  many 
pounds  of  shot  and  powder  and  so  many  boxes 
of  percussion  caps.  Next  on  the  list  of  his 
wants  would  be  an  axe,  or  axes,  an  ice  chisel, 
steel  traps,  twine  for  a  fish  net,  a  few  fish  hooks, 
two  or  three  mill-saw  files  (to  sharpen  his  ice- 
chisel  and  axes)  matches,  a  couple  of  bottles  of 
pain-killer  and  the  same  of  castor  oil,  and  some 
thread  and  needles,   (glovers  and  round). 

Then  comes  the  imported  provisions.  To  an 
ordinary  family  of  a  man,  his  wife  and  two  or 
three  children,  he  will  take  200  pounds  flour, 
50  pounds  compound  lard,  10  pounds  tea,  the 
same  of  tobacco,  2-pound  cart  of  soda,  25  pounds 
sugar,  another  perhaps  12  or  15  pounds  pork. 
This  latter  must  be  pure  fat,  meatless  and  bone- 
less. 

When  we  get  this  far  in  his  supplies,  a  pause 
is  called  and  he  asks  us  to  add  up  how  much 
the  foregoing  comes  to.  Say  this  amounts  to 
|100  and  the  amount  agreed  upon  is  |200,  he 
thus  understands  he  has  |100  yet  to  get,  or  as 
much  as  whatever  the  balance  may  be.  Then 
he  begins  over  again  by  taking  heavy  Hudson's 


26  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Bay  blankets;  these  we  keep  in  all  sizes  from 
one  to  cover  an  infant  up  to  what  we  call  four 
point,  this  latter  is  large  enough  for  a  double 
bed  and  big  enough  for  the  man  and  woman  to 
tuck  themselves  comfortably  in.  Of  blankets 
he  may  take  two  or  three. 

The  next  on  the  list  is  heavy  strouds,  blue 
for  the  woman  and  white  for  the  man's  leggings ; 
following  this  will  be  a  warm  cloth  skirt  for 
his  wife  and  enough  Estoffe  du  pays  for  his 
pants  a  pair  of  ready  made  mole  skin  pants  for 
ice  walking  during  the  excessive  cold  of  Janu- 
ary and  February,  several  yards  of  English 
flannel,  colors  according  to  their  taste;  we  keep 
in  stock,  white,  crimson,  yellow,  sky  blue,  navy, 
and  bright  green;  this  is  for  underwear  for  the 
family,  two  pairs  of  heavy  wool  socks  for  the 
man  and  two  pairs  long  wool  for  his  wife.  A 
half  dozen  red,  spotted  handkerchiefs,  these 
are  put  to  several  usages,  such  as  tying  up  the 
hair,  as  a  muffler  about  the  neck,  tying  up  their 
little  belongings  and  many  other  usages  apart 
from  what  a  white  man  would  apply  a  hand- 
kerchief. 

Several  yards  also  are  taken  of  a  strong  cot- 
ton for  dress  use,  or  outside  skirts;  this  is  im- 
ported by  us  direct  and  goes  under  the  name 
of  "Stripped  Yarmouth  Druggets.'-  It  is  very 
durable  and  stands  the  rough  wear  and  tear 


OUTFITTING   INDIANS.  27 

of  the  bush.  Should  his  proposed  hunting 
grounds  be  remote  from  a  deer  country  he 
would  take  dressed  leather  for  mits  and  moc- 
casins, parchment  deerskin  for  his  snow  shoes. 
Snow  shoes,  of  course,  each  one  of  his  family 
must  have,  and  supplying  himself  with  this 
leather,  makes  quite  a  hole  in  the  amount  of  his 
debt. 

Here  again  another  addition  of  figures  is 
made;  perhaps  a  few  dollars  yet  remain  to  com- 
plete the  agreed  upon  sum.  He  and  his  wife, 
on  the  floor  of  the  shop,  handle  each  article 
they  have  received,  and  think  their  hardest  to 
remember  some  forgotten  necessary  article  that 
may  have  escaped  their  memory.  We  also, 
from  long  use  to  the  Indian's  requirements, 
come  to  their  assistance  and  sometimes  suggest 
something  quite  overlooked,  but  very  necessary. 

A  further  adding  up  is  now  made ;  they  have 
positively  all  they  require  for  the  winter 
months,  and  yet  a  few  dollars  remain  to  make 
up  the  amount,  and  then  the  Indian's  weakness 
shows  itself  and  he  says:  "Oh!  well  give  sugar 
and  lard  for  the  remainder."  Then  he  and  his 
wife  make  all  the  purchases  up  into  one  or  tAvo 
blankets;  an  order  on  the  provision  store  is 
given  him  and  his  account  is  made  up  and  giv- 
en him  in  the  following  manner. 


^8  Canadian  wilds. 

Pa-pa-mos,  dr.  to  Hudson's  Bay  Co. 
Long  Lake  Post. 

xxxxxxxxxx 
xxxxxxxxxx 

Sept.  15,  1895 
.1200.00  M.  H. 

They  don't  generally  understand  figures,  but 
they  all  understand  that  X  stands  for  10.  As 
the  Indian  kills  his  furs,  he  adds  them  to  his 
pack  in  salts  often,  at  the  same  time  scoring 
out  one  of  the  crosses  on  his  debt  slip.  After 
all  has  been  cancelled,  he  then  hunts  a  few  more 
skins  to  cover  any  misvaluation  on  his  part,  or 
to  have  something  extra  to  barter  for  finery. 

After  the  chief  leaves  the  shop  another  man 
and  wife  are  called  in  according  to  their  stand- 
ing in  the  band,  and  thus  it  goes  on  till  we  reach 
the  last  one.  Six  to  eight  families  are  about 
all  we  can  get  thru  in  a  day,  as  there  is  so 
much  time  wasted  in  talk. 

If  we  begin  on  the  Monday,  we  generally  see 
the  grand  departure  take  place  on  the  follow- 
ing Saturday.  We  onh'  import  the  best  of  ev- 
erything and  the  Indian  buying  from  our  stores 
is  assured  of  the  purest  provisions  and  the 
strongest  and  most  durable  goods.     This  is  no 


OUTFITTING   INDIANS.  29 

boast  for  where  we  have  no  opposition  the  In- 
dians' and  our  interests  are  identical,  and  the 
company's  agent  at  such  posts  has  the  Indians' 
welfare  at  heart. 

On  the  frontier  we  are  obliged  by  other  buy- 
ers and  circumstances  over  Avhich  we  have  no 
control  to  take  common  out  of  season  skins. 
As  the  Indians  find  sale  for  skins  of  any  kind, 
they  hunt  actually  ten  months  out  of  tne 
twelve.  At  our  interior  posts,  where  our  word 
is  law,  we  appoint  the  25th  of  October  to  begin 
hunting  and  the  25th  of  May  to  finish;  except 
for  bears,  and  these  they  are  allowed  to  hunt 
up  to  the  10th  of  June.  What  a  sad  sight  it  is 
for  an  officer  coming  from  some  interior  district 
to  a  frontier  post,  where  he  left  well-clothed 
contented  Indians  to  find  those  swindled  by  the 
unprincipled  traders,  in  rags,  drunken  and  the 
seeds  of  consumption  marked  in  their  faces. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TRACKERS  OF  THE   NORTH. 

What  appears  marvelous  and  positirely  un- 
canny to  a  town  person  is  simple  to  a  busliman. 

Years  of  continuous  observation  develoj>s 
the  bump  of  locality,  every  object  has  a  place 
and  meaning  to  a  trapper ;  his  eye  is  ever  on  the 
alert,  and  what  his  eye  sees  is  photographed  on 
the  brain  and  remains  there  for  future  refer- 
ence at  any  time  he  may  require  it. 

This  bump  of  locality  is  highly  developed  in 
all  Indians  and  whites  who  have  passed  many 
years  in  the  bush.  Without  the  faculty  of  re- 
membering objects  a  bushman  could  not  find  his 
way  through  the  dense  forests. 

Providing  the  trapper  has  once  passed  from 
one  place  to  another,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  find 
his  way  through  the  second  time,  even  if  years 
should  have  elapsed  between  the  trips.  Every 
object  from  start  to  finish  is  an  index  finger 
pointing  out  the  right  path.  A  sloping  path,  a 
leaning  tree,  a  moss-covered  rock,  a  slight  ele- 
vation in  land,  a  cut  in  the  hills,  the  water  in  a 
creek,  an  odd-looking  stone,  a  blasted  tree  — 

30 


TRACKERS    OF   THE    NORTH.  31 

all  help  as  guides  as  the  observant  trapper 
makes  his  way  through  a  pathless  forest. 

Of  course,  this  tax  on  the  memory  is  not 
required  of  trappers  about  a  settled  part  of  the 
country,  but  I  am  telling  of  what  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  one's  life  in  the  far- 
away wilds  of  the  North,  where  to  lose  one's 
self  might  possibly  mean  death. 

I  followed  an  Indian  guide  once  over  a  trail 
of  280  miles,  whereon  we  snowshoed  over  moun- 
tains, through  dense  bush,  down  rivers  and  over 
lakes.  To  test  my  powers  of  a  retentive  mem- 
ory, the  following  winter,  when  dispatches  again 
had  to  be  taken  to  headquarters,  I  asked  the 
Indian  to  allow  me  to  act  as  guide,  he  following. 

On  that  long  journey  of  ten  or  twelve  days, 
always  walking  and  continually  thinking  out 
the  road,  I  was  in  doubt  only  once.  We  were 
standing  on  the  ice;  a  tongue  of  land  stood 
out  toward  us ;  a  bay  on  either  side.  The  port- 
age leaving  the  lake  was  at  the  bottom  of  one 
of  these  bays,  but  which?  The  Indian  had  halted 
almost  on  the  tails  of  my  snowshoes,  and  en- 
joyed my  hesitation,  but  said  nothing.  To  be 
assured  of  no  mistake,  I  had  to  pass  over  the 
whole  of  last  winter's  trip  in  my  mind's  eye  up 
to  the  point  on  which  we  stood.  Once  the  re- 
trospect caught  up  with  us,  there  was  no  further 
trouble.    Our  route  was  down  the  left-hand  bay. 


32  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

When  the  Indian  saw  me  start  in  that  direc- 
tion, he  said :  "A-a-ke-pu-ka-tan"  ( "Yes,  yes,  you 
are  able"). 

The  most  difficult  proposition  to  tackle  is  a 
black  spruce  swamp.  The  trees  are  mostly  of  a 
uniform  size  and  height,  the  surface  of  the  snow 
is  perfectly  level,  and  at  times  our  route  lies 
miles  through  such  a  country,  and  should  there 
be  a  dull  leaden  sky  or  a  gentle  snow  falling, 
there  is  nothing  for  the  guide  to  depend  on  but 
his  ability  to  walk  straight. 

It  has  been  written  time  and  again  that  the 
tendency  when  there  are  no  land  marks  is  to 
walk  in  a  circle. 

By  constant  practice,  those  who  are  brought 
up  in  the  wilds  acquire  the  ability  to  walk  in  a 
straight  line.  They  begin  by  beating  a'  trail 
from  point  to  point  on  some  long  stretch  of  ice, 
and  in  the  bush,  where  any  tree  or  obstruction 
bars  the  way  they  make  up  for  any  deviation 
from  the  straight  course  by  a  give-and-take  pro- 
cess, so  that  the  general  line  of  march  is  straiglit. 

During  forty  years  in  the  country,  I  never 
knew  an  Indian  or  white  bushman  to  carry  a 
compass.  Apart  from  a  black  spruce  swamp, 
it  would  be  no  use  whatever. 

In  going  from  one  place  to  another,  the  con- 
tour of  the  country  has  to  be  considered,  and 
very  frequently  the  "longest  way  round  is  the 


TRACKERS    OF   THE    NORTH.  33 

shortest  way  home."  A  ridge  of  mountains 
might  lay  between  the  place  of  starting  and  the 
objective  point,  and  by  making  a  detour  round 
the  spur  of  same,  one  would  easier  reach  his 
destination,  rather  than  to  climb  up  one  side 
and  down  the  other. 

On  the  first  day  after  my  arrival  in  London 
(the  only  time  I  ever  crossed  the  water)  a  gen- 
tleman took  me  out  to  see  some  of  the  sights. 
He  lived  on  the  Surrey  side,  and  took  me  direct, 
or,  I  should  say  crooked,  into  the  city  across  the 
Thames.  After  walking  me  around  several 
blocks  and  zigzagging  considerably  about,  he 
came  to  a  sudden  stop  at  a  corner.  "Now,"  he 
said,  "Hunter,  suppose  I  was  to  disappear  all 
at  once,  do  you  think  you  could  find  your  way 
back  to  Elm  Tree  Lodge?  I  have  always  heard 
that  you  bushmen  can  find  your  way  anywhere." 

Now,  although  there  was  no  necessity  for  it, 
my  years  of  schooling  had  caused  me  to  observe 
every  conspicuous-  object,  and  every  turn  we 
had  made  since  leaving  his  residence ;  and  there- 
fore I  replied,  with  the  utmost  confidence, 
"Why,  to  return  to  your  house  from  here  is  as 
simple  as  falling  off  a  log." 

Looking  at  me  with  the  greatest  incredulity, 
he  said,  "If  you  can  find  your  way  back  unaided 
I  will  pay  for  the  best  hat  in  London." 

"Well,  my  dear  sir,  my  number  is  7,  and  I 

3 


34  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

want  it  soft  felt  and  dark  bottle  green.  Now 
follow  me,  and  you  can  get  the  bat  in  tbe  morn- 
ing." 

Witbout  going  into  details,  suffice  it  to  say, 
I  conducted  bim  to  bis  own  door,  and  a  more 
perplexed  man  was  not  in  London;  so  mucb 
so,  be  bad  to  call  in  bis  wife,  bis  motber-in-law 
and  bis  next  door  neighbor  to  tell  tbem  of  my 
acbievement. 

At  last  I  bad  to  cut  sbort  his  flow  of  words 
by  saying  my  guiding  bim  home  was  a  most 
simple  thing.  It  was  merely  the  result  of  ob- 
serving as  I  went  along,  and  running  tbe  objects 
backward  as  I  came  to  tbe  house. 

"If  I  was  to  tell  you  as  a  fact,  my  dear  sir, 
that  a  bushman  sees  the  track  of  some  wild  ani- 
mal in  tbe  snow,  he  can  tell  you  not  only  tbe 
name  of  the  animal,  but  if  it  was  male  or  female, 
within  an  hour  of  tbe  time  the  tracks  were  made, 
if  it  was  calm  or  blowing  and  the  direction  of 
the  wind  at  that  time  and  many  other  minor 
things,  you  would  think  this  wonderful.  Yet, 
as  wonderful  as  this  may  appear,  and  hardly  to 
be  credited,  an  Indian  boy  of  ten  or  twelve  can 
read  this  page  from  nature  as  easy  as  one  of  us 

can  read  a  page  of  print." 

«         «         « 

When  the  cold  nights  of  the  latter  end  of 
October  had  set  in  and  tbe  leaves  were  crisp 


TRACKERS   OF   THE   NORTH.  35 

underfoot,  I  decided  to  go  and  set  up  a  line  of 
marten  traps  through  a  streteli  of  green  timber, 
between  two  large  lakes.  The  distance  was  con- 
sidered about  eight  miles. 

I  took  an  Indian  youth  as  companion,  for  it 
is  lonely  work  setting  trap  in  the  deep  gloom 
of  the  forest  alone.  Our  blankets,  axes,  two 
days'  provisions,  a  square  of  cotton  that  we  call 
a  canopy,  to  keep  off  the  wind,  and  my  rifle, 
made  up  our  necessary  equipment,  with  a  few 
baits  to  start  work  upon. 

During  the  summer  I  had  got  an  Indian  to 
leave  an  old  canoe  on  the  shore  of  the  big  lake 
where  we  expected  to  come  out ;  this  would  save 
our  coming  back  on  our  tracks,  as  we  could  re- 
turn by  the  canoe  route,  which  was  considerably 
longer,  but  much  easier. 

We  worked  away  all  the  day  we  left  the  post, 
and  when  camping  time  came  we  found  a  pretty, 
sheltered  place,  the  back  of  a  large,  flat-sided 
boulder.  Ten  feet  in  front  of  this  lay  a  large 
fallen  pine  tree,  against  which  we  built  our  fire. 
Then  we  cut  a  lot  of  pitch  pine  dry  wood  in 
short  lengths  and  split,  ready  to  replenish  the 
fire  from  time  to  time  during  the  autumn  night. 

It  is  cheerful  when  one  wakes  during  the 
night  to  have  a  bright  blaze  in  a  few  moments. 

The  boy  had  worked  pretty  hard  all  day,  and, 
after  eating  to  repletion,  rolled  himself  in  his 


36  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

blanket  and  fell  asleep.  With  me  it  was  dif- 
ferent. I  lay  back  half-reclining,  half-sitting, 
enjoying  the  congenial  heat  and  wondering  what 
luck  we  would  have  from  the  traps  when  we 
made  our  first  visit.  My  rifle  lay  alongside  of 
me  on  the  balsam  brush,  with  the  muzzle  point- 
ing toward  the  fire,  and,  unconsciously  my  hand 
grasped  the  stock  and  my  fore  finger  toyed  with 
the  trigger.  I  mention  all  these  details  to  show 
how  easy  what  followed  came  to  pass. 

The  sparks  had  all  gone  out  of  the  wood  and 
only  a  bright  glow  remained,  enough,  however, 
to  light  up  the  trunk  of  the  pine  log  and  a  con- 
siderable distance  each  side  of  the  fireplace.  All 
at  once  I  heard  the  crushing  of  dried  leaves  and 
the  breaking  of  twigs,  at  some  little  distance  off 
in  the  forest.  The  sounds  were  evidently  made 
by  some  large  animal,  and  I  soon  realized  it  was 
coming  slowly  with  steady  steps  toward  the 
camp. 

My  first  thought  was  to  chuck  on  some  fresh 
fuel  to  scare  whatever  it  was  away;  but  the 
next  moment  I  decided  to  keep  quiet  and  await 
developments. 

With  my  thumb  I  drew  back  the  hammer  of 
the  rifle  and  waited.  I  kept  my  eyes  steadfast 
in  the  direction  whence  the  sounds  came,  and  in 
a  minute  (it  appeared  an  hour  to  me)  I  saw  the 
head   and  forequarters  of  an   immense  black 


TRACKERS   OF   THE   NORTH.  37 

bear,  which  stood  gazing  down  on  the  camp 
from  behind  the  fallen  tree. 

To  raise  my  rifle  and  sight  it  point  blank  at 
Bruin's  chest  was  the  work  of  an  instant.  Crash 
went  the  bullet,  true  to  the  mark,  and  the  bear 
fell  backward,  making  the  woods  echo  with  its 
death  roars. 

The  boy  sprang  to  his  feet  in  a  stupid,  be- 
wildered way,  asking  what  was  the  matter.  I 
did  not  take  time  to  answer  him,  being  occupied 
in  getting  a  fresh  shell  into  the  barrel,  for  one 
never  knows  when  a  bear  is  really  dead.  The 
safest  way  is  to  have  your  gun  ready  and  stand 
off  at  a  reasonble  distance  and  wait  until  he 
kicks  himself  stiff.  In  this  case,  however,  it 
was  soon  over  with  its  bearship,  for  the  bullet 
had  gone  right  through  the  heart. 

The  joy  of  the  Indian  boy  knew  no  bounds 
when  he  saw  the  result  of  the  shot,  for  he  saw 
many  gorges  ahead  of  him. 

I  had  always  been  led  to  believe  that  smoke, 
or  the  blaze  from  a  camp-fire,  would  keep  away 
the  denizens  of  the  Candian  forests,  and  when 
I  told  this  bear  adventure  to  old  hunters  they 
simply  listened  and  gave  a  polite  smile. 

In  this  instance  it  must  have  been  a  case  of 
inordinate  curiosity,  accounted  for  in  a  manner 
from  the  fact  of  its  being  a  female  bear. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROVISIONS   FOR   THE   WILDERNESS. 

All  over  the  Hudson's  Bay  territory,  in  mak- 
ing trips,  be  it  in  winter  or  summer,  there  is  a 
scale  of  provisions  upon  which  a  safe  result  can 
be  assured.  For  each  person  of  the  party,  per 
diem,  the  following  is  allowed,  and  that  is  mul- 
tiplied by  the  supposed  number  of  days  that  the 
trip  is  likely  to  last.  Moreover,  for  each  seven 
days  calculated  on,  an  extra  full  day's  ration 
is  thrown  in,  this  is  for  safety  in  case  of  some 
unlooked  for  accident. 

Provisions  per  man,  per  day:  2  pounds  of 
flour  (or  1|  pounds  of  sea  biscuits),  1  pound 
of  fat  mess  pork,  2  ounces  of  sugar,  ^  ounce  of 
tea,  2  ounces  of  peas  (or  same  of  barley),  ^ 
ounce  of  carbonate  of  soda,  and  ^  ounce  of  salt. 

The  peas  or  barley  are  intended  to  be  cooked 
during  the  night's  encampment  with  any  game 
the  route  may  have  produced  through  the  day. 
With  such  rations  I  have  traveled  with  large 
and  small  parties,  sometimes  with  Indians  only, 
and  at  others  with  Indian  and  Canadian  voyag- 
ers mixed;  have  penetrated  the  wildest  parts  of 

38 


PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  WILDERNESS.  ^9 

two  provinces,  in  canoes  and  on  snowshoes,  and 
was  never  short  a  meal.  I  admit  that  with  the 
wasteful  and  improvident  character  of  the  In- 
dians, the  leader  of  the  party  must  use  due  care 
and  watchfulness  over  his  outfit  and  see  it  is 
not  wron«i;ly  used. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  provisions  for  a  party 
of  seven  men  for  fifteen  days,  the  weight  ag- 
gregates 347  pounds,  and  is  of  formidable  bulk; 
and  when  the  necessary  camping  paraphernalia, 
tents,  blankets,  kettles  and  frying  pans,  are  piled 
on  the  beach  alongside  the  eatables,  the  sight 
is  something  appalling,  and  the  crew  is  apt  to 
think  what  an  unnecessary  quantity  of  provis- 
ions; but  before  the  journey  is  over  we  hear 
nothing  about  there  being  too  much  grub.  Long 
hours,  hard  work  and  the  keen,  bracing  atmos- 
phere gives  the  men  appetites  that  fairly  as- 
tonish even  themselves. 

If  a  party  is  to  return  on  the  outgoing  trail, 
and  after  being  off  a  few  days  finds  it  is  using 
within  the  scale  of  provisions,  it  is  very  easy  to 
cache  a  portion  for  the  home  journey  with  a 
certainty  of  finding  it  "after  many  days,"  that 
is,  if  properly  secured.  If  in  the  depth  of  win- 
ter, and  there  is  a  likelihood  of  wolves  or  wol- 
verines coming  that  way,  a  good  and  safe  way 
is  to  cut  a  hole  in  the  ice  some  distance  from 
the   shore   on    some   big   lake,    cutting   almost 


40  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

through  to  the  water.  In  this  trench  put  what 
is  required  to  be  left  behind,  filling  up  with  the 
chopped  ice,  tramp  this  Avell  down,  then  pour 
several  kettles  of  water  on  top.  This  freezes  at 
once,  making  it  as  difficult  to  gnaw  or  scratch 
into  as  would  be  the  side  of  an  ironclad.  I 
have  come  on  such  a  cache  after  an  absence  of 
three  weeks  to  find  the  droppings  of  wolves  and 
foxes  about,  but  the  contents  untouched.  One 
could  not  help  smiling  on  seeing  these  signs, 
imagining  the  profound  thinking  the  animals 
must  have  exerted  in  trying  to  figure  out  a  plan 
to  reach  the  toothsome  stuff  under  that  hard, 
glazed  surface. 

At  other  seasons  of  the  year  a  good  cache 
is  made  by  cutting  and  peeling  a  long  live  tam- 
arac  pole.  Place  this  balanced  over  a  strong 
crutch,  tie  what  is  to  be  left  secure  to  the  small 
end,  over  which  place  a  birch  bark  covering  to 
keep  off  the  rain  (or  failing  tha  proper  place 
or  season  for  getting  bark,  a  very  good  protec- 
tion is  made  with  a  thatch  of  balsam  boughs 
placed  symmetrically  as  shingles)  and  tying  all 
in  place,  tip  up  the  small  end,  weighting  down 
the  butt  with  heavy  logs  or  stones;  and  possess 
your  mind  in  peace. 

Two  of  the  best  auxiliaries  to  a  short  supply 
of  provisions  that  a  party  can  take  on  any  trip 
in  the  wilds  of  Ontario  or  Quebec,  are  gill-net 


PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  WILDERNESS.  41 

and  snaring  wire.  As  food  producers,  I  place 
these  before  a  gun.  Most  of  the  interior  lakes 
contain  fish  of  some  sort,  and  a  successful  haul 
one  night  can  be  smoke  dried  to  last  several 
days  without  spoiling,  even  in  hot  weather.  So 
long  as  they  are  done  up  in  a  secure  manner  in 
birch  bark  to  keep  out  blue  flies,  the  greatest 
danger  of  their  going  bad  is  prevented. 

Another  very  good  Avay  to  preserve  and  util- 
ize fish,  is  to  scorch  a  small  portion  of  flour 
(about  one-third  the  quantity)  and  mix  with 
pounded  up,  smoke  dried  fish,  previously 
cleaned  of  bones.  This  makes  a  light  and  sus- 
taining pemmican,  easily  warmed  up  in  a  fry- 
ing-pan, and  if  a  little  fat  can  be  added  in  the 
warming  process,  one  can  work  on  it  as  well  as 
on  a  meat  diet. 

Admitting  that  there  are  years  of  plenty 
and  3^ears  of  scarcity  with  rabbits,  there  must 
be  a  dearth  indeed  when  one  or  two  cannot  be 
snared  in  some  creek  bottom  near  the  night's 
camp.  A  gun  on  the  other  hand  may  be  only 
an  incumbrance  on  a  long  journey.  A  chance 
shot  may  well  repay  the  person  carrying  it,  but 
very  frequently  a  gun  is  quite  useless. 

We  crossed  the  country  some  years  ago  be- 
tween St.  Maurice  and  Lake  St  John.  It  was 
at  the  very  best  time  of  the  year  to  see  game, 
being  in  the  month  of  May,  when  every  living 


42  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

thing  is  full  of  life  and  moving  about.  The  trip 
took  us  seven  days  going;  coming  back  by  an- 
other route  we  gained  one  day.  On  the  whole 
of  that  journey  through  bush,  lakes  and  rivers 
we  only  fired  two  cartridges,  whereas  our  small 
gill-net  gave  us  splendid  fish  each  camping 
place. 

Another  trip  I  remember,  this  time  in  the 
winter,  accompanying  the  men  who  carried  the 
winter  despatches  between  Pic  River  and  Mich- 
ipecoten,  a  distance  of  120  miles  each  way.  I 
was  prevailed  upon  to  take  a  rifle,  as  the  route 
went  over'  a  very  high  mountain  where  deer 
(caribou)  were  seen  every  year  by  the  men. 
Well,  I  suppose  they  told  the  truth ;  but  I  car- 
ried that  gun  240  miles  without  firing  a  shot. 
No,  as  a  possible  help  to  stave  off  starvation, 
commend  me  to  a  net  and  snare  in  preference 
to  a  gun. 

In  my  younger  days  in  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company's  service  I  put  in  many  years  in  y/hat 
we  call  the  Moose  Belt  in  Quebec  —  that  is, 
from  the  St.  Maurice  River  on  the  east  to  Lake 
Nipissing  on  the  west  from  the  Kepewa  on  the 
south  to  near  the  height  of  land  on  the  north. 
All  inside  these  boundaries  was  teeming  with 
moose.  They  were  killed  in  the  most  wanton 
manner  by  Algonquin  Indians  and  the  lumber- 


PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  WILDERNESS.  43 

men,  in  many  instances  only  the  hide  being 
taken,  and  the  meat  left.  Our  own  Indians, 
who  lived  year  in  and  year  out  in  the  country, 
never  wasted  a  particle  of  meat.  If  they  killed 
more  than  the  family  could  consume  during  the 
winter  months,  before  the  warm  days  of  April 
set  in,  it  was  carefully  collected,  cut  in  strips 
and  smoke  dried  for  summer  use.  While  at- 
tending to  the  curing  of  the  meat,  the  thrifty 
squaw  dressed  the  hides.  These  were  cut  up 
and  made  into  moccasins  and  traded  at  our 
store  during  their  stay  about  the  post  in  sum- 
mer. An  ordinary  sized  hide  would  cut  up  into 
about  twenty-two  pairs  of  shoes  (without  tops) 
and  commanded  fl.50  per  pair,  we  selling  them 
for  the  same  price  in  cash  to  lumber  concerns, 
making  our  profit  on  the  goods  bartered. 

The  young  Indian  the  year  prior  to  getting 
married  always  exerted  himself  to  show  how 
many  moose  he  could  kill.  This  was  their 
boast  and  pride  to  show  they  were  good  pro- 
viders of  food.  The  Indian  nature  to  kill  would 
manifest  itself  at  this  time,  and  the  numbers 
killed  by  some  of  the  young  slips  is  hardly  to 
be  credited.  Older  men  with  families  never 
killed  for  the  sake  of  killing. 

I  knew  a  young  Indian  personally  whose 
mother  had  been  left  a  widow  with  a  large  fam- 


44  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ily.  He  was  the  eldest  of  the  children,  and  that 
summer  began  to  strut  about  the  post  in  fine 
clothes  and  mix  with  the  men  of  the  tribe.  This 
is  one  of  the  traits  that  shows  itself  before  mat- 
rimony is  contemplated.  The  killing  of  many 
moose  was  sure  to  follow  these  signs.  That 
young  boy  actually  killed  to  his  own  gun  ninety 
moose.  Averaging  the  butchered  meat  of  each 
moose  at  the  low  estimate  of  600  pounds,  we 
have  a  gross  weight  of  54,000  pounds  of  good, 
wholesome  food. 

This  section  of  country  was  in  those  days,  I 
venture  to  say,  the  richest  in  game  on  the  con- 
tinent of  America.  Every  little  creek  or  lake 
had  its  beaver  lodge,  and  even  on  the  main 
routes  of  travel  one  would  see  beaver  swimming 
two  or  three  times  in  the  course  of  a  day's 
paddle. 

At  the  posts  we  lived  on  fish,  game  and  pota- 
toes. Our  allowance  of  flour  was  only  100 
pounds  for  each  man  for  the  twelve  months, 
and  we  used  to  spin  this  out  by  eating  only  a 
pancake  or  so  on  Sundays  and  a  pudding  on 
Christmas. 

The  choice  bits  of  the  moose  —  the  tongue 
and  muzzle  —  the  Indians  brought  us  in  quan- 
tities, the  trade  price  of  each  being  half  a  "made 
beaver,"  equal  to  a  supposed  sum  of  fifty  cents. 


PROVISIONS  FOE  THE  WILDERNESS.  45 

This  was  paid  in  goods,  and  would  be  further 
reduced  by  100  per  cent,  our  advance  for  trans- 
port and  profit. 

One  cannot  but  look  back  with  regret  to 
those  days  and  think  such  slaughter  was  mur- 
der. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FORTS  AND  POSTS. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  establishments 
comprised  two  Factories,  several  Forts  and  nu- 
merous posts,  out-posts  and  smaller  ones  called 
"flying  posts."  I  am  writing  of  the  days  gone 
by  for  now,  since  the  country  is  opened  up, 
forts,  as  they  were  then  known,  no  longer  exist. 
The  so-called  factories  were  not  places  in  which 
fabrics  or  other  goods  were  manufactured,  but 
more  rightly  speaking  great  depots  where  an 
entire  year's  supplies  were  stored  in  advance  in 
case  of  a  mishap  to  either  of  the  ships. 

The  country  was  subdivided  into  the  North- 
ern Department  and  Southern  Department. 
York  Factory  supplying  the  requirements  of 
the  former  and  Moose  Factory  the  latter.  At 
these  places  the  summer  months  was  their  busy 
season,  for  not  only  did  they  receive  the  next 
year's  outfit  from  the  shijjs,  but  numerous  bri- 
gades of  boats  and  canoes  were  continually  load- 
ing and  departing  for  the  far  away  inland  posts 
and  forts. 

With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  which  were 
46 


FORTS   AND   POSTS.  47 

built  of  stone,  the  forts  and  posts  were  con- 
structed of  heavy  hewn  logs  which,  being  placed 
flat  to  flat,  were  bolted  with  strong  treenails 
every  second  or  third  tier  until  the  desired 
height  of  wall  was  attained.  The  windows  were 
mere  narrow  slits  in  the  walls  and  as  few  as 
possible  on  the  ground  floor. 

All  the  buildings  were  made  in  the  same 
strong  way  and  consisted,  in  an  ordinary  fort, 
of  the  master's  house  (or  chief  officer's  dwell- 
ing) ;  this  was  the  most  pretentious  building 
in  the  lot,  for  not  only  did  the  factor  and  his 
family  occupy  it  but  it  also  lodged  the  clerks 
and  other  petty  officials,  besides  furnishing  a 
spacious  mess  or  dining  room  and  a  guard  room 
in  which  the  officers  lounged  and  smoked  and 
the  small  arms  were  stacked  ready  for  use. 

Within  the  enclosure  were  the  following 
other  buildings,  similar  in  construction  to  the 
great  house.  A  store  house  in  which  was  kept 
the  bulk  of  the  outfit  and  the  furs  gathered.  A 
trade  shop  in  which  the  Indians  bartered  their 
peltries.  A  men's  house  or  servants'  quarters. 
A  work  shop  in  which  all  necessary  repairs  were 
made  on  guns,  harness,  etc.,  and  a  stable  to 
house  the  stock  at  night.  They  pastured,  undei 
guard,  outside  the  walls  during  the  day. 

These  buildings  were  generally  in  the  form 
of  a  hollow  square  and  the  whole  surrounded 


48  CANADIAN    WILDS. 

by  a  picket  stockade  ten  or  twelve  feet  high. 
This  protection  was  made  from  trees  of  about 
seven  inches  in  diameter,  brought  to  a  sharp 
point  at  the  upper  end  and  planted  deep  in  the 
ground,  touching  one  another.  Here  and  there, 
inside,  the  stockade  was  reinforced  by  strong 
braces,  which  added  to  its  solidity,  should  a 
combined  force  of  men  be  brought  against  it. 

At  each  of  the  four  corners  of  the  square 
a  strong  block  tower  w^as  erected  with  em- 
brasures cut  therein  for  shooting  from.  In  some 
of  the  larger  forts  small  cannon  were  placed 
that  commanded  each  side  of  the  square  and 
all  around  the  inside  of  the  pickets  ran  a  raised 
platform  on  which  men  standing  would  be 
breast  high  to  the  top  of  the  protection.  This 
gave  them  a  great  advantage  in  shooting  on 
coming  enemies  or  repelling  scalers. 

Such  places  were  only  in  the  prairie  country 
where  the  warlike  and  turbulent  Black  Feet, 
Bloods,  Pegaus  and  Sioux  roamed.  Amongst 
the  bush  or  fish-eating  tribes  less  severe  precau- 
tion was  required,  altlio  the  most  of  them  were 
enclosed  by  the  picket  stockade  and  supplied 
liberally  with  muskets,  cutlasses  and  side  arms. 

While  the  Indians  were  paying  their  semi- 
annual trading  visits  the  dwellers  of  the  forts 
were  confined  pretty  well  indoors  and  the  stock 
hobbled  close  to  the  stockades,  for  it  was  not 


FORTS   AND  POSTS.  49 

always  safe  for  a  small  party  to  be  caught  far 
afield.  Great  massive,  barred  gates  opened  into 
the  fort,  in  the  leaves  of  one  side  a  wicket  placed 
for  the  entrance  and  departure  of  men  afoot, 
and  it  was  thru  this  wicket  an  Indian  and  his 
wife  were  admitted  with  their  furs  to  trade. 
When  they  were  finished  bartering  and  de- 
parted, two  others  were  allowed  in  and  so  it 
went  on. 

The  trade  shop  was  so  constructed  that  the 
Indian  and  his  wife  did  their  barter  at  the  end 
of  a  long  narrow  passage,  at  the  end  of  which  a 
square  hole  was  cut  in  the  logs,  behind  which 
the  trader  stood  with  an  assistant  to  fetch  the 
goods  required  by  tlie  purchaser.  The  display 
of  goods  on  the  shelves  was  invisible  to  the  In- 
dian, but  it  was  not  necessary  he  should  see 
them  inasmuch  as  there  being  no  great  variety, 
everything  being  staple  and  the  same  from  year 
to  year,  manufactured  of  the  best  material  ex- 
pressly for  the  Company. 

The  trade  shop  was  always  built  near  the 
gate  and  the  guard  at  the  wicket,  after  ad- 
mitting the  would-be  purchaser  of  supplies, 
locked  and  barred  the  gate  and  conducted  them 
to  the  entrance  of  the  passageway  along  which 
all  they  had  to  do  was  to  travel  until  they 
reached  the  trader  at  the  end. 


50  CANADIAN    WILDS. 

So  that  the  Indian  might  know  the  amount 
of  his  means  of  trade  the  furs  were  taken  in 
first  and  valued  at  a  certain  well-known  curren- 
cy of  that  particular  part  of  the  country  in 
which  he  resided,  i.  e.,  "Made  Beaver"  or  so 
many  "Martens."  In  some  places  he  was  given 
the  gross  amount  in  certain  quills  and  about 
the  Bay  in  brass  tokens.  Of  this  latter  coinage 
the  Company  had  quarters,  halves  and  whole 
M.  B.  (Made  Beaver).  Once  this  was  mutu- 
ally adjusted,  trade  commenced.  The  Indian 
would  call  for  a  gun  and  pay  so  many  Made 
Beaver,  a  scalp  knife,  powder,  shot  and  so  on, 
paying  for  each  article  as  he  received  it  in  either 
quills  or  tokens. 

The  outposts  or  "flying  posts"  were  more  in 
the  bush  country,  where  the  Indians,  as  a  rule, 
lived  peaceably  with  one  another  and  the  whites. 
The  smaller  of  these  trading  places  were  only 
kept  open  during  the  winter  months  and  were 
generally  built  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Indians  and  supplied  with  absolute  necessities 
only.  This  enabled  the  hunter  to  keep  closer  to 
his  work  and  not  travel  long  distances,  when 
furs  were  prime,  for  some  positive  requirement, 
such  as  the  replacing  of  a  broken  gun.  The 
keepers  of  these  small  posts  were  in  most  cases 
guides  or  deserving  and  trustworthy  servants 
of  long  standing  in   the  employ.     With   their 


FORTS   AND   POSTS.  51 

families  and  a  man  or  two  they  departed  from 
the  forts  in  September,  taking  the  supply  of 
trading  stuff  with  them. 

These  small  parties  were  self-sustaining,  be- 
ing given  one  day's  provisions  to  take  them 
away  from  the  fort.  After  that  until  the  next 
May  they  lived  on  fish  and  the  small  game  of 
the  country,  with  probably  an  odd  wood  caribou. 
The  men  of  the  party  trapped  furs  while  hunt- 
ing game  for  their  substenance.  The  proceeds 
for  the  personal  winter  trapping  of  each  serv- 
ant was  allowed  him  as  a  bonus  over  and  above 
his  wages.  Cash  was  not  given,  but  they  had 
permission  to  barter  the  skins  for  what  they 
chose  out  of  the  trade  shop  and  they  went 
principally  in  tobacco  for  the  men  and  finery^ 
for  the  women. 

Where  fish  and  rabbits  in  their  season  was 
the  mainstay  with  these  people,  prodigious  num- 
bers were  required  and  consumed  to  sustain 
life.  Thirty  or  forty  white  fish  or  the  same  of 
rabbits  Avas  an  ordinary  daily  consumption  of 
the  dwellers  at  one  of  these  "flying  posts,"  but 
the  reader  must  remember  they  had  no  auxil- 
iaries to  help  out  this  plain  straight  food. 

No  butter,  lard,  pork,  sugar  or  vegetables, 
just  rabbit  or  white  fish  twice  a  day  and  noth- 
ing else.  This  was  washed  down  with  bouillon 
in  which  the  food  w^as  cooked.     Spring  and  fall 


52  CANADIAN    WILDS. 

they  had  a  variety  in  ducks,  geese,  bearer  and 
an  occasional  bear  and  then  they  lived  in  the 
tallest  kind  of  clover  while  it  lasted. 

As  no  insurance  company  could  be  found 
who  would  take  fire  risks  that  could  only  be 
represented  to  them  on  paper  by  the  interested 
parties,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  began 
years  ago  to  take  certain  sums  of  money  out 
of  each  year's  profits  and  created  a  marine  and 
fire  account,  out  of  which  fund  any  loss  by  sea 
or  fire  is  met  and  the  district  or  department 
where  the  accident  occurred  is  recouped  for  its 
loss.  Fires  at  the  forts  and  posts  have  been 
of  very  rare  occurrence,  as  the  utmost  care  and 
precaution  has  ever  been  exercised  in  prevent- 
ing such  by  the  officer  in  charge. 

Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature 
and  the  dwellers  of  these  far  away  Hudson's 
Bay  posts  knew  of  no  greater  calamity  than 
that  of  being  burnt  out  and  they  looked  to  it 
that  as  far  as  precaution  went  this  should  not 
occur. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ABOUT   INDIANS. 

The  way  in  which  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany managed  the  Indians  of  Canada  has  ever 
been  admired  by  the  people  of  the  outside  world. 
Their  fundamental  rule  and  strict  order  to  their 
servants  was  never  to  break  faith  with  an  In- 
dian. As  time  went  on  the  Indians  began  to 
realize  fully  that  the  company  was  in  the  coun- 
try for  their  mutual  benefit,  not  as  aggressors, 
land  grabbers  or  people  to  take  away  their 
vested  rights. 

It  soon  became  known  that  any  promise 
made  to  them  by  a  Hudson's  Bay  oflflcer  was  as 
good  as  fulfilled.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
"No"  was  said  it  meant  No  every  time  and  there 
was  never  any  vascillating  policy.  "Just  and 
Firm"  was  the  motto  in  all  the  Company's  deal- 
ings with  the  natives  and  while  they  were  at  all 
times  prepared,  as  far  as  they  could  be,  to  meet 
any  trouble,  yet  they  never  provoked  enmity. 
To  do  so  would  have  been  antagonistic  to  their 
interests  even  if  justice  and  humanity  were  put 
aside. 

58 


54  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

Each  officer  of  the  posts  had  the  welfare  of 
the  Indians  as  much  at  heart  as  a  father  has 
for  his  own  children.  In  sickness  they  attended 
them,  in  trading  thej  advised  them  what  goods 
would  be  most  beneficial  and  lasting  to  their 
requirements  and  as  far  as  they  could  in  a  pa- 
cific way  they  advised  them  when  trouble  arose 
between  any  members  of  the  tribe. 

In  those  days  when  the  Company  had  the 
country  under  their  exclusive  sway,  no  cheap, 
shoddy  goods  were  imported  in  the  trading 
forts  Durability  was  looked  for,  not  flashy  fin- 
ery. These  came  with  the  opening  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  advent  of  peddlers  and  unprinci- 
palled  traders.  We  see  the  results  of  this  today 
at  any  of  the  stations  where  our  transconti- 
nental train  stops.  Bands  of  the  once  well-con- 
ditioned, well-clothed,  sober  Indians  are  now  re- 
placed by  ragged,  emaciated,  vice  marked  de- 
scendants of  these,  hanging  around  in  idleness, 
an  object  lesson  of  what  so-called  civilization 
has  brought  them  to.  Except  in  some  far  back 
isolated  posts,  the  Indian's  word  goes  for  noth- 
ing. They  have  lost  the  once  binding  obligation 
that  their  promise  carried  and  the  trader  can 
no  longer  depend  on  them. 

As  the  writer  knew  the  pagan  and  uncivi- 
lized Indian  some  forty  years  ago  he  was  truth- 
ful, sober,  honest  and  moral.     I  won't  say  the 


ABOUT  INDIANS.'  55 

white  man  has  wilfully  made  him  otherwise  than 
what  he  was,  but  as  a  fact  he  is.  It  has  been  a 
transformation  in  which  the  Indian  has  fallen 
to  most  of  the  white  man's  vices  and  adopted 
very  few  of  his  virtues.  My  experience  has  been 
over  considerable  of  the  country  and  amongst 
several  tribes  and  my  observation  has  told  me 
that  about  the  Mission  centers  (be  the  denomi- 
nation what  it  may)  is  to  be  found  the  greatest 
debauchery  and  rascality  in  the  Indian  and  that 
right  at  their  very  gates. 

Prior  to  1821  both  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany and  that  of  the  Northwest  gave  liquor  to 
the  Indians,  but  after  the  coalition  of  the  two 
companies  a  wise  policy  was  inaugurated  and 
liquor  was  stopped  thruout  the  vast  country. 
The  Company's  people  saw  that  liquor  to  the 
Indian  was  laying  the  seeds  of  illness  and  death 
and  impoverishing  his  family,  but  the  Company 
did  not  take  away  the  grog  (which  had  been 
given  in  most  cases  as  a  bonus  on  their  hunt) 
without  giving  an  equivalent  in  value  and  the 
cash  value  of  liquor  to  each  hunter  entitled  to 
any  was  given  in  the  shape  of  any  goods  he  chose 
from  the  trade  shop.  Even  the  servants  who 
had  heretofore  received  a  Saturday  night  al- 
lowance of  spirits,  received  in  lieu  thereof  two 
pounds  sterling  per  annum  added  to  their 
wages. 


56  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

The  Indian  in  the  olden  days  seldom  stayed 
about  the  posts  longer  than  to  barter  his  furs 
and  got  back  to  his  hunting  grounds  with  as 
little  delay  as  possible.  They  were  fish  and 
flesh  eaters,  almost  every  river  and  lake 
abounded  with  the  former  and  the  surrounding 
woods  furnished  the  latter  and  the  Indian  got 
his  living  from  day  to  day  with  very  little  ex- 
ertion. The  Indian  has  no  idea  of  hording  up 
the  treasures  of  this  world  and  in  onlv  two  in- 
stances did  I  know  one  to  have  a  bank  account. 
They  have  an  implicit  and  abiding  faith  in  kind 
providence  to  supply  their  wants  as  they  go 
thru  life  and  reason  that  what  is  sufficient  for 
them  will  be  forthcoming  for  their  sons  and 
daughters. 

As  an  agriculturist  the  Indian  is  a  failure. 
The  life  is  too  hard  and  humdrum  for  one  whose 
ancestors  from  away  back  have  lived  a  nomad 
life.  His  sphere  of  action  on  a  farm  is  too  cir- 
cumspect and  he  pines  and  longs  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  wilds.  It  is  a  sad  and  not  a  success- 
ful measure,  this  corralling  of  the  once  lords 
of  the  country  on  restricted  reservations  which 
in  plain  English  is  no  better  than  a  prison  to 
them. 

The  Indian  in  his  native  state  is  hospitable 
to  a  degree.  The  stranger  who  comes  to  his 
wigwam  is  given  the  best  and  choicest  pieces 


ABOUT   INDIANS.  57 

of  what  his  larder  contains.  The  softest  and 
best  bed  is  made  for  him  furtherest  from  the 
door.  When  he  arrives  no  impertinent  ques- 
tions are  asked  as  to  his  business,  destination 
or  his  success  in  the  hunt.  Any  such  informa- 
tion that  he  thinks  fit  to  impart  is  given  volun- 
tarily over  a  pipe  of  peace  before  rolling  up  in 
his  robe  or  blanket. 

It  is  not  considered  good  form  to  ask  ques- 
tions, even  a  member  of  the  family  coming  home 
at  night  is  not  asked  as  to  what  success  he  has 
had  in  the  chase.  His  bundle  or  game  bag  is 
thrown  inside  the  door  and  remains  there  until 
his  mother  has  placed  food  before  him.  While 
partaking  of  this  his  motller  (or  wife  if  it  hap- 
I)ens  to  be  the  father)  opens  his  bag  and  takes 
out,  piece  by  piece,  the  contents.  If  he  has 
killed  a  deer  the  head  and  heart  only  are 
brought  to  camp.  If  a  bear,  the  four  paws,  if  a 
moose,  the  tongue  and  muzzle. 

The  Indians  are  very  superstitious  as  t6 
how  they  treat  the  flesh  and  bones  of  tlie  large 
game  they  kill.  Beaver  bones  are  never  thrown 
J;o  the  dogs,  but  are  carefully  collected  and 
sunk  in  the  lake  or  river,  thus  returning  them 
to  the  element  from  which  they  came.  A  bear 
killed  by  an  Indian  is  always  addressed  as  cou- 
sin and  a  harangue  is  given  him  by  the  hunter 
and  his  pardon  asked  for  the  necessitj'^  of  tak- 


58  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

ing  his  life.  The  hones,  especially  the  skull,  are 
hung  up  at  the  exact  spot  where  he  fell,  jour- 
neys from  camp  often  being  taken  with  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  carrying  out  this  sacred  duty. 

Deer  and  moose  antlers  and  shoulder  blades 
are  generally  found  on  stakes  or  dry  knots  of 
trees  at  the  discharge  of  some  big  lake  on  main 
canoe  route.  There  are  certain  parts  of  the  flesh 
and  insides  of  these  animlas  that  the  women 
are  never  allowed  to  partake  of,  such  as  the 
head,  heart  and  paws  of  the  bear. 

Likewise  it  is  infra  dig.  for  a  man  to  carry 
water  to  the  camp,  chop  wood  or  dry  his  own 
moccasins.  After  the  killing  of  big  game  it 
rests  with  the  women  and  children  to  cut  up 
the  meat  and  toboggan  it  to  camp.  The  man 
merely  walking  ahead  to  show  the  way  and  loll- 
ing about  an  open  fire  while  the  work  of  butch- 
ering and  loading  sled  is  going  on. 

Physique  and  Health.  —  Before  the  Indian 
came  in  close  contact  with  the  whites  he  lived 
on  the  produce  of  the  country  and  remained 
close  to  nature.  He  was  of  a  wirey  and  healthy 
stature  and  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  Now  from 
their  acquired  taste  of  the  white  man's  foods, 
love  of  liquor,  insufficient  clothing  and  early 
marriages,  the  "white  plague"  has  taken  firm 
hold  in  every  band  and  a  few  decades  will  see 


ABOUT  INDIANS.  59 

very  few  of  the  Government  wards  to  be  cared 
for. 
;^  How  few  of  the  thousands  of  immigrants 
now  flowing  into  the  country  pause  to  consider 
that  once  these  beautiful  lakes,  rivers,  prairies 
and  mountains  were  the  resort  and  homes  of  a 
race  of  God's  primitive  children.  Their  wanta 
were  supplied  with  a  lavish  generosity  by  a 
Great  Spirit  and  pagans  tho  they  were  said  to 
be  they  cast  their  eyes  heavenwards  and  thanked 
that  Great  Spirit  for  blessings  received.  And 
the  translation  after  death  that  they  looked  for 
ward  to,  to  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds,  what 
are  these  but  our  God  and  our  Heaven? 

Poor,  fast  disappearing  race!  I  have  lived 
with  them,  hunted  with  them  and  walked  the 
long  trail  and  from  my  city  home  I  often  yearn 
for  the  old  life  in  that  North  Country. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WHOLESOME   FOODS. 

Men  are  governed,  or  prejudiced  very  much 
for,  or  against,  things  by  appearances  or  names. 
And  this  I  find  holds  even  with  practical  men 
as  are  hunters,  traders  and  trappers,  men  who 
as  a  rule  reason  much,  and  are  endowed  with 
considerable  common  sense. 

There  are  many  food  meats  that  the  woods 
furnish  that  are  tabooed  from  the  hunter's  bill 
of  fare  simply  by  the  name  of  the  animal  that 
furnishes  it.  The  skin  is  taken  but  the  flesh 
is  cast  away,  and  this  for  no  other  reason  but 
the  name  the  beast  is  generally  known  under. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  water  rat,  musquash, 
or  the  more  generally  used  name  of  musk  rat. 
Here  we  have  certainly  nothing  against  it  but 
the  name.  Because  did  we  of  the  fraternity  of 
hunters  pause  to  consider,  and  reason,  we  must 
see  that  a  musquash  ought  not,  and  cannot  be 
different  from  a  beaver.  They  are  identically 
the  same  in  every  detail  except  the  formation  of 
the  tail.  They  live  on  the  same  food,  roots, 
grasses,  and  twi^s,  as  the  beaver  does  and  to  the 

60 


WHOLESOME   FOODS.  61 

eye  they  are  (barring  the  tail)  a  small  beaver 
in  miniature. 

Musquash,  like  all  animals  in  cold  countries, 
are  at  their  best  condition  in  the  autumn.  Let 
my  hunter  friend  take  one  of  the  above  despised 
animals,  select  a  nice  mixed  flesh  and  fat  one, 
clean  it  as  you  would  a  beaver,  split  it  up  the 
front,  impale  it  on  a  sharp  pointed  stick,  intro- 
duce the  i)oint  near  the  root  of  the  tail,  and 
bring  it  up  to  the  inside  of  the  head.  Plant 
your  screwer  in  front  of  your  camp  fire,  giving 
it  an  occasional  twist,  while  getting  your  tea 
and  other  things  ready.  When  done  stand  it 
back  from  the  excessive  heat  for-  a  short  while 
to  cool  and  harden.  Fill  your  pannican  of  tea, 
spread  out  your  biscuits,  cut  off  a  quarter  sec- 
tion of  your  roast  suckling,  and  fall  to,  and  a 
hundred  to  one  you  never  ate  anything  more 
delicious.  I  know  prejudice  has  to  be  gotten 
over,  "I  have  been  there  myself." 

I  starved  once  for  a  day  and  a  night,  did 
hard  paddling  and  portaging  all  day  and  went 
supperless  at  night,  simply  because  I  could  not 
get  over  the  idea  of  "rat."  We  had  about  a 
dozen  with  us,  and  my  Indian  companion 
roasted  a  couple  each  meal  and  demolished  both 
himself  with  satisfaction  and  relish;  for  myself 
the  thought  of  the  name  was  enough. 

Take  again  the  Canadian  lynx.     Were  this 


62  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

name  always  adhered  to,  there  would  be  less 
room  for  prejudice,  but  unfortunately  it  is  more 
frequently  called  cat.  I  admit  it  has  all  the  ap- 
pearances and  manners  of  the  cat,  but  let  some- 
one, unknown  to  you,  fry  some  fat  cutlets  from 
the  ham  of  a  lynx,  and  fifty  to  one  you  will  rel- 
ish it  as  very  fine  veal  and  you  cannot  be  con- 
vinced to  the  contrary.  There  again  is  the  por- 
cupine, I  think  sometimes  known  as  the  hedge- 
hog. When  they  are  in  good  condition,  nicer 
or  more  juicy  meat  a  hunter  cannot  put  his  teeth 
into.  When  properly  prepared  and  properly 
cooked,  the  white  mans  "rarebit,"  the  suckling 
pig,  cannot  prove  its  points. 

The  arctic  or  snow  owl  is  a  bird  that  gives 
as  fine  a  flavored  flesh,  and  the  same  in  color 
and  appearance  as  a  fat  capon.  But  where  one 
is  set  against  it,  is  when  served  up  in  Indian 
fashion,  boiled  whole,  it  has  then  the  appear- 
ance of  a  young  baby,  and  one  would  almost 
have  to  be  a  professional  cannibal  to  tackle  the 
object.  The  thick,  plump  thighs,  the  round 
bald  head,  makes  the  appearance  to  a  young  in- 
fant almost  startling.  However,  if  one  closes 
his  mental  eyes  to  this  similitude,  the  flesh  is 
most  toothsome. 

I  come  now  to  another  that  occurs  to  me  as 
being  much  despised,  that  is  the  festive  and 
highly  perfumed  skunk.     W^e  look  on  a  skunk, 


WHOLESOME   FOODS.  63 

be  it  man  or  beast,  as  the  meanest  kind  of  thing, 
but  I  assure  you  the  skunk  (the  four  footed 
one)  is  not  to  be  despised  or  cast  aside  when 
one  is  hungry  or  desires  a  cliange  from  the  ever- 
lasting bacon  and  biscuit.  A  skunk,  shot  and 
prepared  with  care,  makes  very  good  eating. 

Two  of  the  animals  of  our  forest  I  never 
could  stomach  and  very  few  Indians  eat  them, 
be  they  ever  so  much  pushed  for  food,  and  these 
are:  the  otter  and  mink.  Their  flesh  is  oily, 
black  and  highly  flavored,  resembling  the  meat 
of  seal,  only  more  so!  The  Indians  as  a  rule 
look  down  with  contempt  on  a  fellow  Indian 
who  eats  otter  or  mink,  whether  from  necessity 
or  from  an  acquired  and  perverse  taste. 

I  venture  to  opine  my  little  sketch  will  set 
many  of  my  hunter  friends  thinking  and  per- 
haps make  a  few  converts.  You  won't  repent  it. 


Forty  years  ago,  before  the  country  was 
opened  up  to  civilization  and  the  usual  provis- 
ions of  the  white  man  were  imported  into  the 
wilds,  the  great  staple  foods  of  the  territories, 
from  the  Labrador  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  Pa- 
cific, consisted  of  buffalo,  caribou,  white  fish 
and  rabbits.  According  to  the  parts  of  the 
country  where  these  animals  resorted,  the  In- 
dians, traders  and  tuappers,  lived  almost  exclu- 


64  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

sively  on  their  flesli,  either  in  the  fresh,  dried 
or  pemican  state. 

All  foods,  not  imported,  went  under  the 
name  of  country  produce,  and  as  flour  is  the 
staff  of  life  to  the  white  man,  so  was  buffalo, 
caribou,  rabbit  or  white  fish  to  the  dwellers  of 
the  north  country.  Beaver,  partridge,  porcu- 
pine and  other  small  prey,  a  kind  of  entree,  or 
side  dish,  got  only  at  odd  times,  and  not  to  be 
depended  on  for  regular  three  times  a  day  diet. 

The  quantity  of  any  one  of  these  four  foods 
required  to  sustain,  even  a  family  of  six,  dur- 
ing a  long  northern  winter,  was  something  to 
make  a  layman  incredulous. 

The  Indians  living  about  the  plains  of  the 
lower  Saskatchewan  and  foothills  of  the  Rock- 
ies not  only  lived  on  the  buffalo,  but  made  up 
immense  quantities  of  pemican,  which  was 
parched  in  summer  skin  bags,  weighing  about 
sixty  pounds  each,  and  traded  for  ammunition, 
cloth,  beads,  hatchets,  etc.,  at  the  forts. 

From  these  bases  of  supply  the  bags  of  meat 
were  sent  to  posts  farther  north,  and  used  for 
tripping  and  feeding  the  men  about  the  post. 
Large  quantities  were  floated  down  each  spring 
from  Fort  Ellis,  Qu  Appelli  and  other  plain 
forts,  by  the  Assiniboine  to  Fort  Garry  and  from 
there  in  larger  boats  to  Norway  House,  on  Lake 
Winnipeg,  which  in  those -days  was  the  receiv- 


WHOLESOME   FOODS.  65 

ing  and  distributing  factory  for  all  the  country 
north  and  east,  and  had  the  distinction  of  being 
the  place  of  council  each  year. 

The  people  inhabiting  the  country  embraced 
by  the  Mackenzie  River,  Great  Bear  Lake,  and 
the  coast  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  subsisted  almost 
entirely  on  white  fish.  These  were  killed  in 
great  numbers  each  spawning  season,  not  only 
for  their  own  food,  but  for  their  team  dogs  as 
well,  the  posts  putting  past  from  ten  to  one  hun- 
dred thousand,  according  to  the  importance  of 
the  place  and  the  mouths  to  feed. 

The  fish  were  hung  in  number  on  skewers  as 
taken  from  the  water,  the  sharpened  stake  be- 
ing run  through  the  fish  near  the  tail. 

The  string  of  ten  fish  on  a  skewer  was  called 
a  "percer,"  and  was  hung  head  down  from  long 
horizontal  poles,  as  high  as  a  man  could  reach, 
and  the  length  of  these  traverses  would  accom- 
modate one  hundred  "percers."  The  great 
stock  of  fish  was  surrounded  by  a  high  picket 
stockade  open  to  the  weather,  with  one  entrance, 
which  was  kept  strictly  under  lock  and  key,  and 
opened  each  evening  by  the  post-master,  i.  e., 
steward,  who  gave  out  the  requirements  for  the 
next  twenty-four  hours'  consumption. 

The  expenditure  Avas  kept  posted  up  each 
night,  showing  for  what  use  the  fish  had  been 
given  out,  under  the  following  headings: 

5 


66  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Mess  Account. 

Men's  Rations. 

Indians  visiting  the  post. 

Dog  Rations. 

Thus,  at  any  time,  the  factor  could  tell  the 
exact  number  of  fish  consumed  and  number  vet 
on  hand. 

Many  of  the  posts  would  have  an  expendi- 
ture of  a  thousand  fish  a  week  for  all  purposes, 
which  would  be  about  thirty  thousand  for  the 
winter. 

In  the  country  lying  south  of  Lake  Winnipeg 
to  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  east  as  far  as  the  Ot- 
tawa River,  the  staple  food  was  the  harmless 
little  rabbit.  It  is  a  dispensation  of  Providence 
that  the  rabbit  is  a  prolific  animal,  for  they  are 
the  life  not  only  of  the  people,  but  of  martens, 
lynx,  foxes,  ermine,  owls,  hawks  and  ravens. 

An  ordinary  family  of  Indians,  living  on 
plain  boiled  or  roasted  rabbits,  require  about 
twenty  a  day,  and  even  that  keeps  their  vitality 
a  very  little  above  zero.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
what  the  food  a  man  eats  makes  or  lowers  his 
valor  and  endurance. 

No  one  ever  heard  of  the  fish  or  rabbit-eat- 
ing Indians  going  on  the  war-path,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  buffalo  eaters  were  fearless  men 
both  as  horsemen  and  fighters. 

The  Labrador   Peninsula,   bounded    by   the 


WHOLESOME   FOODS.  67 

Saguenay  river  on  the  west,  Hudson's  Bay  and 
Straits  on  the  north,  the  Atlantic  seaboard  on 
the  east,  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  on  the 
south,  a  country  as  large  as  England,  France 
and  Austria  combined,  is  the  home  of  the  Cari- 
bou or  wood  deer,  who  migrate  north  and  south 
in  countless  herds  spring  and  autumn,  and  are 
followed  by  bands  of  roaming  Indians  continu- 
ally preying  on  them. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  pemican,  these  Nasca- 
pies,  Montagnais,  and  Cree  Indians  bring  into 
the  posts  dried  meats,  marrow  fat  and  tongues 
to  barter,  and  on  this  the  post  dwellers  live. 

With  the  Indians  of  the  present  day  armed 
with  modern  rifles,  and  the  great  depletion  in 
the  calf-crop  made  by  the  marauding  of  wolves, 
the  day  cannot  be  far  off  that  the  caribou  will 
be  of  the  past  as  the  buffalo  is. 

In  their  migrations  north  and  south,  at  cer- 
tain places  well  known  to  the  natives,  the  deer 
have  to  cross  rivers.  Taking  the  crossings  the 
mob  of  deer  would  compact  itself  so  much  that 
the  traverse  would  be  black  with  their  bodies. 

The  Indians  who  had  been  waiting  for  some 
days  the  passing  of  the  herd,  would  attack  them 
from  up  and  down  the  river  in  their  canoes, 
shooting  them  with  arrows,  spearing  and  axing 
the  poor  frightened  brutes  in  the  water  till  the 


68  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

lower  waters  were  covered  with  floating  car- 
casses. 

Much  meat  and  many  skins  were  spoiled  for 
the  want  of  quick  attention.  After  the  battle 
the  Indians  gorged  themselves  to  such  a  state 
of  repletion,  that  it  rendered  them  unfit  for  ex- 
ertion, but  a  just  God  frequently  punished  them 
during  the  bitter  weather  of  the  following  win- 
ter by  starvation,  and  whole  families  succumbed 
for  want  of  the  very  food  they  so  wantonly 
wasted  in  the  autumn. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  a  post 
years  ago  on  Lake  Mis-a-ka-ma  right  on  the  ta- 
bleland between  Ungava  bay  and  the  Canadian 
Labrador  coast,  for  the  trading  of  deer  skins, 
both  dressed  and  in  the  parchment  state.  One 
year  the  skins  were  in  such  numbers  that  the 
boats  of  the  brigade  could  not  carry  the  whole 
to  the  coast,  and  bales  of  them  had  to  be  win- 
tered over  to  the  next  year. 

The  Labrador  has  been  for  many  years  the 
base  of  supplies  for  fish  and  rabbit  districts, 
where  the  natives  have  no  deer  to  make  mocca- 
sins, mitts  and  shirts,  and  the  parchment  for 
their  snowshoe  knitting. 

These  deer  skins  take  a  round  about  route  to 
reach  their  destination,  being  in  the  first  place 
shipped  from  Ungava,  or  Nigolette,  to  London, 
and  after  passing  the  winter  in  London,  are  re- 


WHOLESOME  FOODS.  6^ 

shipped  to  Montreal,  via  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
from  that  depot  sent  with  the  new  outfit  to  posts 
that  have  requisitioned  them  the  previous  year. 
One  would  think  with  the  introduction  of 
flour,  pork  and  other  imported  provisions  that 
the  slaughter  would  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  but 
the  killing  goes  on  as  before,  and  now  only  the 
skin  is  taken,  the  meat  remaining  to  rot. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

OFFICERS^   ALLOWANCES. 

To  readers  of  H-T-T  descriptions  of  modes 
of  living  in  by-gone  days  will,  no  doubt,  be  as 
interesting  as  actual  hunting  or  trapping.  I 
therefore  submit  a  reminiscence  of  days  in  the 
early  sixties,  gone  never  to  return. 

Transport  then  to  the  far  inland  posts  was 
so  tedious  and  costly  that  it  was  impossible  to 
freight  heavy  stuff  so  far  away,  and  the  em- 
ployees of  the  company  had  to  live  on  what  the 
company  in  which  they  were  stationed  produced. 
However,  a  scale  of  allowances  of  a  few  delica- 
cies were  allowed,  and  these  were  made  up  everj^ 
year  at  the  depot  of  each  district,  and  were  for 
one  year.  The  laborers  or  common  people  about 
the  post  got  nothing  in  the  way  of  imported  pro- 
visions, except  when  at  the  hard  work  of  trip- 
ping. The  officers'  scale  was  as  follows,  be  he 
a  married  man  or  a  single  man,  it  made  no  dif- 
ference.    Their  several  grades  were  as  follows: 

Chief  Factor,  Chief  Trader,  Chief  Clerk,  Ap- 
prentice Clerk,  Post  ^Master. 

A  Post  Master  did  not  mean  a  master  of  a 
70  ' 


officers'  ALtX)WANCES.  71 

post,  but  was  generally  a  long  service  laborer, 
who  could  supervise  the  general  work  about  the 
post  and  act  as  interpreter  if  required.  He  also 
received  a  minimum  allowance  from  headquar- 
ters, but  of  fewer  articles  than  that  of  clerks 
and  officers.  A  Chief  Factor,  being  of  the  high 
est  grade  in  the  service,  received  the  largest 
allowance,  which  was  as  follows : 

Three  hundred  pounds  flour,  336  lbs.  sugar, 
18  lbs.  black  tea,  9  lbs.  green  tea,  42  lbs.  raisins. 
60  lbs.  butter,  30  lbs.  tallow  candles,  3  lbs.  mus- 
tard, 6f  gal.  port  wine,  6|  sherry  wine,  3  gal. 
brandy. 

Exactly  one-half  of  the  Factor's  allowance 
was  the  share  of  the  Chief  Trader,  and  a  half 
of  the  latter's  portion  was  the  scale  for  a  Chief 
Clerk  or  Apprentice  Clerk.  A  Post  Master 
however,  not  receiving  the  full  list,  I  will  give 
in  detail. 

Fifty-six  pounds  sugar,  3  lbs.  black  tea,  11 
lbs.  green  tea,  7  lbs.  rice,  |  lb.  pepper,  |  lb. 
pimento. 

At  every  post  where  it  was  possible  to  grow 
potatoes  they  were  given  the  greatest  attention, 
as  they  constituted  a  very  material  place  in  the 
feeding  of  the  post  people.  They  were,  how- 
ever, kept  under  lock  and  key,  and  a  weekly 
allowance  given  out  by  the  Post  Master.  At 
posts  where  cattle  were  kept  the  allowance  of 


72  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

butter  was  not  supplied  by  headquarters,  as  we 
were  supposed  to  make  our  own. 

The  allowances  never  came  up  with  the  gen- 
eral outfit,  but  were  sent  up  in  bulk  to  the  head 
quarters  of  the  district,  and  there  parceled  out 
for  each  post  in  that  Factor's  territory.  The 
clerks  or  officers  in  charge  of  these  out-posts 
went  to  headquarters  about  the  15th  of  August 
with  a  half-sized  canoe.  This  being  a  special 
trip,  made  especially  for  the  allowance  of  any 
small  thing  that  might  have  been  overlooked  in 
the  indent,  was  called  "The  Allowance  Canoe." 

A  week  was  generally  spent  at  headquarters 
in  friendly  intercourse  with  the  staff  there.  The 
prospects  for  the  ensuing  year  were  talked  over, 
and  the  requisition  for  the  next  year's  outfit 
read  carefully  over,  and  any  article  requiring 
explanation  or  comment  was  then  gone  into  by 
the  Factor  while  he  had  the  framer  of  the  indent 
at  hand. 

This  was  the  only  time  of  the  year  that  all 
the  ofiicers  of  that  district  met  together,  their 
respective  posts  being  east,  north  and  west,  and 
hundreds  of  miles  of  forest  and  stream  separat- 
ing them.  This  reunion  was  a  red  letter  week, 
and  no  sooner  were  we  back  to  our  posts  but 
we  looked  forward  to  the  next  meeting.  I  doubt 
very  much  if  today  such  a  self-reliant,  hardy 


OFFICERS^   ALLOWANCES.  7S 

and  easily  satisfied  body  of  men  could  be  found 
to  fill  similar  circumstances. 

It  was  etiquette  not  to  arrive  at  headquar- 
ters before  the  date  appointed.  Occasionally  a 
canoe  from  some  post  would  have  made  extra 
good  time  coming  out,  probably  gaining  a  day 
or  part  of  a  day,  and  would  camp  back  of  some 
point  almost  in  sight  of  "The  Fort."  A  noted 
last  place  of  call  before  reaching  the  fort  was 
called  "Point  a  la  Barbe." 

Here  a  general  clean-up  took  place,  from  a 
shave  to  clean  linen  and  store  clothes.  As  the 
lake  upon  which  the  fort  is  built  was  the  main 
dropping-in  thoroughfare  from  several  parts  of 
the  interior,  often  two  or  three  canoe  parties 
would  be  at  the  "Point  a  la  Barbe"  at  once. 

A  start  would  be  made  from  there  together, 
and  when  the  rocky  point  which  had  hidden 
them  from  view  was  rounded  a  "flee  de  joie" 
was  fired  from  each  canoe,  the  paddle  seized, 
and  in  unison  with  the  quick  stroke  of  the 
"paddle  for  the  avenue,"  one  of  the  usual 
French  canoe  songs  was  sung  by  the  voices  of 
the  combined  fleet  till  the  rocky  shores  repro- 
duced it  from  cliff  to  clifif. 

Almost  with  the  firing  of  the  first  shot  the 
people  at  the  post  who  were  on  the  lookout  ran 
up  the  glorious  old  Hudson's  Bay  Mg  to  the 
flagstafif  head,  and  an  answering  volley  was  re- 


74  Canadian  wilds. 

turned.  The  handshaking,  talk  and  laughter 
when  the  canoes  beached  was  never  to  be  for- 
gotten. 

Most  of  those  at  the  fort  had  relatives  or 
friends  at  one  or  other  of  the  outposts,  and  if 
they  were  not  present  anxious  inquiries  were 
made  and  answered  on  the  beach.  Possibly  some 
loved  one  had  been  called  away  since  the  last 
opportunity  of  communication  with  the  fort; 
in  such  a  case  it  devolved  on  some  person  of  the 
new  arrivals  to. break  the  sad  news  or  receive 
bad  tidings  himself.  In  that  case  no  words  were 
necessary,  the  downcast  look  and  the  prolonged 
clasp  of  the  hand  told  as  well  as  words  the  be- 
reavement. I  have  witnessed  such  meetings, 
and  know  it  was  only  hours  after  the  meeting 
that  the  details  were  imparted  by  words,  and 
that  night  far  into  the  small  hours  could  be 
heard  the  death  chant  of  the  sorrowing  relative. 

Every  night  during  car  stay  at  headquarters 
our  crews  congregated  at  the  men's  guard  room, 
and  there  hoed  down  the  Red  River  Reels,  and 
entered  into  other  harmless  pastimes  till  well  up 
to  midnight.  During  that  week  the  former 
rigid  discipline  of  the  fort  was  considerably  re- 
laxed in  honor  of  the  strangers. 

In  the  days  of  which  I  write  liquor  had  been 
abolished  for  the  servants  and  trade  through- 
out the  country,  and  a  few  years  after  even  the 


OFFICERS^  ALLOWANCES.  75 

officers'  allowance  of  wine  and  brandy  was  cut 
off,  so  these  dances  were  not  attended  by  any 
discord  or  disturbance. 

When  the  rum  allowance  was  done  away 
with  to  the  servants,  they  received  in  lieu  there- 
of two  sterling  per  annum  added  to  their  wages, 
and  to  the  Indian  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
getting  a  gill  of  rum  for  every  ten  "made-beaver" 
traded,  was  given  one  skin  for  every  ten  traded, 
taking  whatever  he  chose,  to  the  amount  of  the 
aggregated  skins,  in  goods. 

For  that  one  good  deed  alone,  Sir  George 
Simpson  deserved  the  thanks  of  all  throughout 
the  territories  when  he  abolished  liquor  as  a 
stimulant  to  the  men  and  a  vehicle  of  trade  with 
the  native^. 

The  officers  received  no  equivalent  when 
their  allowance  was  discontinued.  It  was 
brought  about  by  the  bad  use  one  officer  made 
of  his  allowance,  and  the  others  suffered  there- 
by. A  clerk's  allowance  of  wine  and  brandy 
was  done  up  in .  three  oak  kegs,  each  wine  keg 
holding  2^  gallons  and  the  brandy  one  gallon. 
These  were  laced  together  with  stout  raw  hide 
lashings,  and  the  piece  was  called  a  "Maccrow," 
and  a  very  awkward  piece  it  was  to  portage. 

The  majority  of  the  officers  made  it  a  point 
of  honor  to  debark  the  Maccrow  unbroached  at 
their  respective  posts,  and  make  the  contents 


76  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

spin  religiously  through  the  next  twelve 
months.  Some  could  not  withstand  the  tempta- 
tion of  sampling  the  liquor  enroute,  and  had 
very  little  when  they  reached  home. 

It  was  one  of  these  gentlemen  who  was  the 
cause  of  the  allowance  being  cut  off,  A  petition 
was  sent  in  to  the  Governor  asking  that  we 
should  receive  the  equivalent  in  money  for  the 
discontinuance  of  wine  and  brandy,  which 
amounted  to  seventeen  dollars  at  cost  price,  but 
no  answer  came,  and  we  had  to  bear  our  loss 
and  offer  up  some  nightly  words  in  favor  (or 
otherwise)  of  the  person  who  had  made  an 
abuse  of  his  allowance. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INLAND   PACKS. 

Prior  to  1865,  furs  at  inland  posts  were  made 
up  in  packs  of  ninety  pounds  for  transport  to 
the  frontier,  but  some  of  the  young  canoe  men 
were  not  sufficiently  strong  to  handle  such  a 
weight  in  debarking  or  loading  them  into  the 
canoes,  and  a  pack  slipping  from  their  grasp 
into  the  water  and  becoming  wet  inside  caused 
delay  to  the  whole  brigade.  A  stop  had  to  be 
made  and  the  damaged  pack  unlaced,  dried  and 
repaired,  before  the  journey  could  be  resumed. 

About  the  year  mentioned,  a  top  pack  slipped 
off  a  man's  back  while  being  carried  over  a  side 
portage,  and  before  the  man  could  save  it  had 
bounded  down  the  hillside  into  the  rapid,  and 
was  lost. 

This  happened  to  be  a  very  valuable  pack- 
age, and  its  loss  being  reported  called  forth  the 
next  year,  from  headquarters,  a  general  order 
to  reduce  the  weight  from  ninety  to  eighty 
pounds  per  pack,  and  to  make  each  package  of 
pure  skins  —  i.  e.,  skins  of  only  one  kind. 

This  order  to  discontinue  the  mixing  of  skins 
77 


78  CANADIAN    WILDS. 

was  not  pleasing  to  post  managers,  inasmuch  as 
a  smaller  and  better  pack  can  be  constructed  of 
mixed  skins  than  of  only  one  kind. 

For  the  information  of  trappers  of  to-dav,  I 
will  give  a  summary  of  how  many  of  each  kind 
of  skins  made  up,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  pre- 
scribed weight  of  eighty  pounds,  thus: 

Forty  large  beavers  and  20  small  beavers 
made  80  pounds. 

Eight  large  bears  and  4  small  bears  made 
80  pounds. 

Five  hundred  spring  rats,  80  pounds. 

Seven  hundred  and  twenty  large  and  small 
rats,  fall,  80  pounds. 

Two  beavers,  large,  for  top  and  bottom  cov- 
ers, and  60  lynx  skins  made  80  pounds. 

Two  beavers  for  covers  and  30  otters  made 
80  pounds. 

Two  beavers  for  covers  and  50  fox  skins 
made  80  pounds. 

We  had  orders  to  gather  such  furs  as  fisher, 
ermine,  wolf,  wolverine,  skunk,  and  any  broken 
or  damaged  skins,  and  make  up  into  a  separate 
pack. 

The  fine  and  delicate  skins,  as  marten,  mink, 
silver  and  cross  foxes,  were  to  be  packed  in 
boxes  thirty  inches  long  by  twenty  inches 
square,  and  into  this  small  compass  the  martens 
and  mink,  after  being  tied  in  bundles  of  ten 


INLAND  PACKS.  79 

skins  each,  were  packed  to  the  number  of  four 
hundred  skins. 

This  made  a  very  valuable  package,  and  the 
greatest  care  was  taken  of  it  the  whole  journey. 
Valuing  them  at  only  f  5  each,  one  of  these  boxes 
represented  the  sum  of  |2,000. 

We  all  saw  that  this  mode  of  packing  would 
not  last;  as,  taking  the  best  of  care,  accidents 
will  happen,  and  they  began  the  very  year  after 
the  order  came  in  force.  Leaving  a  disagreeable 
job  to  the  last,  the  men  at  each  carrying  place 
avoided  these  boxes,  and  there  was  a  struggle  to 
see  who  would  not  carry  them.  The  sharp  cor- 
ners abraded  the  men's  backs,  and  when  carried 
on  top  of  a  pack  they  hurt  the  back  of  the  head ; 
so,  as  a  rule,  they  were  generally  left  till  the 
last  load,  and  then  taken  with  bitter  comments, 
and  a  fervent  wish  that  the  promulgator  of  the 
order  for  such  packages  were  himself  present  to 
portage  them  over  the  carry. 

Two  of  these  marten  boxes  were  left  by  one 
of  our  crews  in  the  middle  of  a  brule.  In  mak- 
ing the  former  trip  some  careless  fellow  must 
have  thrown  down  a  half-burnt  match;  in  a  few 
moments  dense  clouds  of  smoke  arose  in  their 
rear.  The  country  was  as  dry  as  tinder,  and 
in  the  space  of  a  very  few  minutes  the  flames 
swept  to  the  other  end  of  the  portage,  licking 
up  in  passing  those  valuable  boxes  and  contents. 


80  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

We,  figuratively,  locked  the  door  for  the  bal- 
ance of  that  trip  after  the  horse  had  been  stolen, 
for  the  remaining  boxes  were  stored  each  night 
in  the  officers'  tent,  and  during  the  day  a  re- 
sponsible person  was  on  guard  over  them. 

It  was  a  severe  loss  out  of  the  returns  of 
one  post.  Xo  one,  perhaps,  could  be  blamed  for 
it,  but  it  had  the  desired  effect  of  repealing  the 
order,  and  we  were  told  to  pack  as  in  the  good 
"old  corn-meal  days,"  and  mix  our  furs. 

To  arrive  at  an  average  of  each  kind  of  skins 
through  each  and  every  pack,  we  counted  the 
whole  returns  and  estimated  the  gross  weight, 
and  then  divided  so  many  of  each  kind  of  furs 
through  the  several  packs,  something  like  this: 
10  beavers,  2  bears,  40  marten,  10  mink,  100 
rats,  4  foxes,  4  otters,  4  lynx  —  80  pounds,  or  as 
the  average  might  count  out. 

Previous  to  packing,  the  skins  were  neatly 
folded,  placed  in  a  pile  and  weighted  down  for 
a  week.  They  were  then  built  in  the  desired 
pack  shape  and  underwent  a  severe  wedge  press 
hammering  to  reduce  the  bulk,  then  tied  with 
three  strong  cross  lashings,  either  of  raw  cow- 
hide or  twenty-four-thread  cod  line,  and  when 
all  was  secure,  the  wedges  being  released,  the 
pack  tumbled  out  complete,  less  the  lateral  ty- 
ings,  which  were  two  in  number,  of  eighteen- 
thread  cod  line. 


INLAND  PACKS.  81 

The  size  of  one  of  these  packs,  ready  for 
transportation,  was  24  inches  long,  17  inches 
broad,  and  10  inches  thick.  The  expansion  of 
the  compressed  skins  would,  after  a  few  days, 
give  it  a  rounded  shape  in  the  middle,  but  when 
first  out  of  the  press  it  was  almost  perfectly 
square,  and  it  was  the  pride  of  each  post  man- 
ager to  outdo  the  others  in  the  beauty  and  solid- 
ity of  his  packs. 

A  well-made  pack  would  withstand  the  ill 
usage  and  the  hundreds  of  handlings  in  making 
a  journey  of  four  or  five  hundred  miles  from  an 
interior  post,  and  would  reach  the  first  steamer 
or  train  of  cars  without  a  tying  giving  way. 
In  my  young  days  I  have  seen  a  pile  of  296  of 
tltese  packs  on  the  beach  at  one  portage. 

An  anecdote  relating  to  the  care  of  such  a 
valuable  cargo  may  be  here  appended.  An  old 
factor  who  had  not  left  the  interior  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  applied  for  and  received  leave  to 
visit  civilization  with  the  understanding  that 
he  would  take  care  of  the  furs  in  transit.  This 
he  did  during  a  journey  of  days  and  weeks  com- 
ing down  the  great  river,  standing  at  each  port- 
age till  every  pack  was' over,  and  checking  them 
off  by  numbers  and  the  aggregate. 

At  last  he  reached  steamboat  navigation, 
shipped  his  packs,  and  had  the  bill  of  lading  in 

6 


82  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

his  pocket.  Having  shipped  the  furs  he  took 
passage  on  the  same  boat.  During  tlie  midnight 
hours  the  captain,  in  making  his  rounds,  was 
surprised  to  find  a  man  sitting  among  the  cargo. 
Who  was  this  but  Mr.  S,,  still  keeping  his  faith- 
ful watch.  The  captain  asked  why  he  was  not 
abed  in  his  stateroom. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "I  saw  rough  deck  hands 
going  about  the  packs,  and  thought  it  better  to 
keep  an  eye  on  them." 

The  captain  laughed.  "Why,  man,"  he  said, 
'we  have  signed  bills  of  lading  for  those  goods, 
and  we  are  responsible  for  their  safe  delivery. 
Go  to  bed,  Mr.  S.,"  he  continued,  "and  rest  in 
peace,  for  even  you  have  no  right  to  touch  one 
of  those  packs,  now  they  are  aboard  this  ves- 
sel." 

That  was  in  1873,  and  I  believe  that  old  gen- 
tleman is  alive  yet.  He  retired  many  years  ago 
and  settled  in  Ontario. 


CHAPTER  XL 

INDIAN    MODE   OF    HUNTING    BEAVER. 

Wa-sa-Kejic  came  over  to  the  post  early 
one  October,  and  said  his  boy  had  cut  his  foot, 
and  that  he  had  no  one  to  steer  his  canoe  on  a 
proposed  beaver  hunt.  Now  nice,  fat  beaver, 
just  before  the  ice  takes,  is  one  of  the  tidbits 
that  come  to  the  trader's  table,  and  having  spare 
time  just  then  I  volunteered  to  accompany  him, 
knowing  I  would  get  a  share  of  the  game. 

As  we  made  our  way  over  the  several  small 
portages  between  the  large  lake  on  which  the 
post  is  built  and  the  one  in  which  he  had  located 
the  beaver,  he  told  me  there  were  two  lodges 
on  the  lake  to  which  we  were  making  our  way. 

We  pitched  our  tent  on  the  last  portage,  so 
as  not  to  make  a  fire  near  the  beaver.  Beavers 
have  very  poor  eyesight,  but  very  acute  hearing 
and  smell,  and  once  they  are  frightened  the 
sport  for  that  night  at  gill  events  is  finished. 

We  had  something  to  eat  and  then  started 
for  the  lake,  leaving  our  tent  and  things  ready 
to  return  to  after  dark.  Smoking  and  talking 
are  forbidden  when  one  is  in  a  beaver  lake ;  care 

83 


84  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

also  must  be  taken  that  the  paddle  does  not  rasp 
the  side  of  the  canoe. 

The  beavers  had  built  an  immense  dam 
across  the  discharge  of  the  lake,  and  left  a  small 
cut  in  the  middle  for  the  overflow  to  pass.  Here 
Wa-sa-Kejic  placed  a  No.  4  Xewhouse  trap  in 
about  4  in.  of  water.  On  a  twig  9  in.  high  and 
set  back  about  a  foot  from  the  trap  he  placed  a 
small  piece  of  castorum.  The  smell  of  this  at- 
tracts a  beaver.  Then  he  lengthened  the  trap 
chain  with  three  strands  of  No.  9  twine,  tying 
it  to  a  stout  pole,  which  he  planted  very,  very 
securely  in  deep  water,  out  from  the  dam. 

The  beaver,  when  he  finds  himself  caught, 
springs  backward  into  the  deep  water  and  dives 
to  the  bottom;  here  he  struggled  to  get  away 
until  shortness  of  breath  compels  him  to  rise 
to  the  surface,  and  this  is  repeated  until  the 
weight  of  the  trap  is  too  much  for  his  exlmusted 
condition,  and  he  died  at  the  bottom,  from 
whence  he  is  hauled  up  by  the  hunter  when 
next  visiting  his  traps. 

After  placing  the  trap  on  the  dam  Wa-sa- 
Kejic  opened  another  ready  for  setting,  tied  the 
poles,  and  had  everything  ready;  then  giving 
me  implicit  injunctions  not  to  make  the  least 
noise,  told  me  to  steer  the  canoe  quietly  to  the 
lodge,  which  was  fixed  in  a  small  bay  out  in  the 
lake.    When  we  reached  the  beaver's  house,  he 


INDIAN  MODE  OF   HUNTING  BEAVER.  8S 

carefully  placed  the  trap  in  the  same  depth  of 
water  as  he  had  done  the  previous  one,  with 
this  difference,  that  he  omitted  the  castorum, 
because,  as  he  told  me  afterward,  the  beavers 
went  on  top  of  the  house  every  night,  the  young 
ones  to  slide  down  into  the  water,  and  the  old 
ones  to  do  any  necessary  plastering. 

Another  trap  was  set  at  the  next  house,  and 
from  there  we  paddled  the  canoe  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  beaver  works,  and  figuratively 
rested  on  our  oars  until  sundown. 

We  were  now  going  to  try  still-shooting 
them.  Before  night  sets  in  about  sundown  each 
fine  evening  in  the  fall  the  beavers  leave  their 
lodge,  first,  to  eat  the  young  willows  along  the 
shore,  and  after  satisfying  their  hunger  to  patch 
the  dam,  plaster  their  houses  and  cut  young 
trees  to  store  up  for  their  next  winter's  food! 

They  come  to  the  surface  on  leaving  the 
lodge,  and  unless  something  frightens  them  swim 
on  the  surface  in  and  out  along  the  borders  of 
the  lake  until  they  see  a  favorable  spot  to  go 
ashore;  and  here  they  set  to  nibbling  the  bark 
of  young  birch  or  popular,  and  if  the  hunter  is 
careful  he  may  be  shot  at  close  range. 

As  I  said  before,  talking  AThile  hunting  bea- 
ver is  forbidden;  and  the  hunter  conveys  his 
wishes  to  the  steersman  by  signs,  thus :  To  draw 
his  attention  he  oscillates  the  canoe  slightly; 


86  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

to  move  the  canoe  ahead  the  motion  of  paddling 
made  by  throwing  the  opening  hand  inboard; 
to  alter  the  course  of  the  canoe  is  done  by  sign- 
ing with  the  hand  either  to  the  right  or  to  the 
left,  as  desired;  to  stop  the  canoe's  headway 
when  getting  too  close  to  the  game  is  done  by 
gentle  downward  patting  of  the  hand,  etc. 

Being  already  versed  in  this  dumb  language, 
we  shoved  away  and  took  up  a  position  near  the 
lodge,  but  to  the  leeward  of  it,  and  waited.  The 
sun  having  already  gone  down  behind  the  for- 
est, on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  we  had  not 
long  to  wait  until  a  beaver  broke  water  and 
swam  away  in  a  direction  from  us.  Wa-sa-Kejic 
shook  his  head,  as  much  as  to  say,  "We  will  go 
after  that  fellow  later  on."  The  first  was  fol- 
loAved  quickly  by  a  second,  a  third  and  a  fourth  I 
Then,  after  waiting  for  fully  fifteen  minutes  and 
no  other  appearing,  Wa-sa-Kejic  made  signs  to 
go  ahead;  this  we  did  slowly,  without  taking 
the  sharp-bladded  paddle  from  the  water. 

Presently  we  heard  a  noise  as  if  a  pig  were 
supping  up  from  a  trough.  This  was  one  of  the 
beavers  crunching  up  young  twigs  in  the  water. 
The  canoe  was  edged  slowly  toward  the  land, 
with  Wa-sa-Kejic  on  the  alert,  both  dogheads 
full-cocked  and  ready  for  action.  Presently  the 
downward  motion  of  the  hand  was  given,  the 
gun  brought  deliberately  up  to  the  shoulder,  and 


INDIAN   MODE  OF   HUNTING  BEAVER.  87 

the  next  instant  the  explosion,  followed  almost 
as  one  shot  by  the  second  barrel!  A  thick 
smoke  hung  between  us  and  the  shore,  but  we 
could  hear  kicking  and  sj^lashing  of  the  water; 
that  told  the  shot  was  true.  The  beaver  had 
ceased  to  struggle  by  the  time  we  reached  the 
shore.  "But  for  what  was  the  other  cihot?" 
I  asked  Wa-sa-Kejic. 

"For  that,"  he  answered,  pointing  to  an- 
other beaver  stone,  dead  on  the  bank ;  and  then 
he  laughed,  for  there  was  no  necessity  of  keep- 
ing quiet  any  longer,  for  the  shots  had  fright- 
ened any  other  beaver  in  the  vicinity. 

"We  may  as  well  go  to  camp  now,"  continued 
Wa-sa-Kejic,  "and  we  will  see  our  traps  in  the 
morning." 

From  the  fact  of  our  having  come  ashore 
late,  and  perhaps  more  because  of  the  hearty 
supper  we  made  off  of  roast  beaver,  we  did  not 
awake  until  the  sun  was  high.  We  immediately 
partook  of  a  hasty  breakfast  of  tea  Gallette  and 
pork  and  went  to  see  the  traps. 

"Fortunate?"  Well,  yes!  We  found  one  in 
each  trap;  and  returned  during  the  afternoon 
to  the  post.  The  Indian  gave  me  the  meat  of 
two  beavers  for  myself. 

He  left  his  traps  set  to  visit  at  some  future 
time,  because  there  were  several  animals  yet 
in  the  lake. 


88  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

Describing  the  mode  of  killing  beaver  would 
not  be  complete  unless  we  explained  that  of 
"trenching."  This  method  of  killing  them  is 
largely  practiced  by  the  Indians  after  the  lakes 
and  rivers  are  frozen  over.  I  cannot  do  better 
than  to  describe  a  small  lake  that  Wa-sa-Kejic 
and  I  went  to  trench  in  December.  This  beaver 
lodge  I  had  found  the  very  last  day  of  open 
water,  for  that  night  the  wind  turned  round 
north  and  froze  up  everything!  As  it  was  close 
to  the  post,  and  I  had  found  it,  I  simply  made 
a  bargain  with  Wa-sa-Kejic  to  do  the  trenching 
for  a  pound  of  tea.  In  those  days  tea  was  tea 
in  the  remote  interior,  and  meant  many  a  cheer- 
ing cup  to  the  Indian. 

Wa-sa-Kejic  whistled  his  dogs  after  him 
when  we  left  camp  in  the  morning.  The  lake 
lay  in  the  hollow  of  a  mountain  of  considerable 
height,  and  could  be  compared  to  an  inch  of 
water  in  the  bottom  of  a  teacup.  Before  we 
were  half  down  the  precipitous  sides  we  saw  the 
dogs  nosing  around  the  shore,  scenting  for  the 
beavers  in  their  "washes"  or  breathing  holes. 
Wa-sa-Kejic,  when  he  cast  his  eye  around  the 
small  body  of  water,  said,  "This  is  an  easy  lake, 
and  the  beaver  will  soon  all  be  dead." 

He  now  produced  an  ordinary  socket  chisel 
of  1^  in.  point,  and  in  a  few  minutes  had  this 
handled  with  a  young  tamarak  about  6  ft.  long. 


INDIAN   MODE  OF   HUNTING  BEAVER.  89 

We  each  carried  an  axe,  and  the  first  order  I  got 
was  to  cut  some  dry  sticks  that  stood  at  the  dis- 
charge, each  stick  to  be  about  4  ft.  long.  These, 
as  fast  as  cut,  the  Indian  drove  across  the  creek, 
after  he  had  cut  a  trench  in  the  thin  ice  from 
shore  to  shore.  This  was  to  prevent  the  beaver 
from  going  down  the  creels. 

The  next  thing  was  to  break  open  the  lodge 
from  the  top.  This  was  done  to  scare  the  bea- 
vers out  into  the  lake  and  make  them  resort  to 
the  washes.  The  beaver  washes  have  their  en- 
trances under  water,  and  go  up  sometimes  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  shore,  terminat- 
ing generally  under  the  roots  of  a  tree.  The 
beavers  flee  from  wash  to  wash,  as  the  hunter 
finds  them  out,  and  as  each  wash  is  discovered 
by  the  dogs  (which  scent  the  beavers  through 
the  frozen  surface)  the  hunter  stakes  up  the 
entrance  to  prevent  them  from  returning. 

Beaver  washes  vary  in  number  according  to 
the  formation  of  the  lake,  from  two  to  three  up 
to  twenty.  The  practiced  eye  of  the  hunter  tells 
him  at  once  if  the  lake  has  few  or  many.  And 
this  is  why  Wa-sa-Kejic  said  we  would  soon 
kill  the  beaver.  At  last  the  three  dogs  remained 
pointing  and  listening  about  12  ft  from  the 
shore  under  a  spruce  of  considerable  size.  The 
Indian  set  to  work  to  stake  up  the  entrance, 
which  he  did  as  fast  as  I  could  furnish  the 
sticks. 


90  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

On  the  shore  of  this  barricade  he  cleared 
away  the  ice  and  snow,  making  an  opening 
about  the  size  of  a  barrel  head,  and  then  he 
paused,  and  pointing  to  the  water,  said,  "See 
that!  That's  the  beaver  breathing!"  This  wm* 
shown  by  the  water's  surface  gently  rising  and 
falling. 

He  now  took  off  his  coat,  and  baring  his 
right  arm  up  to  the  shoulder  he  gave  me  the 
ice  chisel  and  told  me  to  pierce  the  ground 
where  the  dogs  were  pointing,  I  had  hardly 
given  a  blow  or  two  before  I  saw  Wa-sa-Kejic 
stoop  over  thie  hole  and  plunge  his  naked  arm 
into  the  water.  Instantly  it  was  withdrawn, 
and  a  big  fat  beaver,  securely  seized  by  the  tail, 
was  struggling  in  his  grasp.  A  blow  of  his  axe 
on  the  spine  finished  him  in  quick  order,  and 
this  was  repeated  from  time  to  time  as  I  con- 
tinued to  enlarge  the  hole  where  the  beavers 
were  huddled  together  under  the  roots. 

We  got  six  out  of  this  wash,  and  two  out  of 
another,  which  constituted  all  that  were  in  the 
lake.  Two  each  made  a  very  good  load  for  us 
going  home,  and  the  next  day  I  sent  a  man  with 
a  flat  sled  to  bring  home  the  remaining  four. 

The  three  principal  modes  of  killing  beavers 
are  by  shooting,  trapping,  trenching. 


INDIAN   MODE  OP   HUNTING  BEAVER.  91 

As  a  haunt  and  home  of  the  muskrat,  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  Cumberland,  on  the  Saskatche- 
wan, is  the  banner  producing  post  on  this  con- 
tinent. For  miles  and  miles  about  this  trading 
place  there  are  immense  grassy  marshes,  cut  up 
and  intersected  by  waterways  and  lagoons  in 
every  direction.  From  a  hundred  to  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  .  musquash  skins  was  the 
usual  returns  from  the  post  a  few  years  ago. 
Three  times  during  the  year  the  hunters  made 
their  harvest,  first  in  October,  when  the  little 
animals  were  busy  making  their  funny  little 
cone  mud  houses  and  cutting  bunches  of  long 
grass  for  their  winter's  food. 

At  that  time  the  Indian  would  set  his  bunch 
of  No.  1  steel  traps  before  sundown  and  then 
lay  off  in  his  canoe  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  shore  in  some  pond  and  shoot  at  those  swim- 
ming past  until  it  became  too  dusk  to  fire.  Then 
he  would  make  to  some  place  to  dry  ground,  haul 
up  his  canoe,  make  a  fire  and  have  his  supper. 
When  his  after-meal  pipe  ^^as  finished  he  would 
silently  shove  his  canoe  into  the  water  and  make 
his  first  visit.  When  setting  his  traps  he  would 
take  the  precaution  to  place  on  the  end  of  the 
pole  that  the  chain  was  fastened  to,  a  piece  of 
paper,  a  bunch  of  grass  or  a  piece  of  birch  bark. 
This  enabled  him  to  find  his  traps  in  the  dark, 
as  the  sign  would  show  on  the  sky  line  as  he 


92  Canadian  wilds. 

paddled  slowly  along  sitting  low  down  in  his 
canoe.  The  looking  at  his  traps  and  resetting 
of  them  would  take  him  an  hour  or  two,  then 
he  would  come  back  to  his  fire  place,  throw  the 
rats  he  had  caught  in  a  pile,  replenish  the  fire 
and  stretch  out  for  another  smoke.  About  ten 
o'clock  he  would  make  another  visit  and  on  his 
return  make  a  lasting  fire,  roll  himself  in  his 
Hudson's  Bay  blanket  and  sleep  till  morning. 

Often  two  visits  were  made  in  the  morning, 
one  just  at  the  screech  of  day,  and  the  last  one 
after  he  had  had  his  breakfast.  Traps  were 
taken  up  at  this  first  visit  to  be  set  in  some 
other  locality  that  afternoon,  and  the  hunter 
would  paddle  away  for  his  lodge,  where  he 
would  sleep  all  the  forenoon  while  his  wife  and 
children  were  skinning  and  stretching  the  pelts. 
The  next  and  every  night  would  be  spent  in  the 
same  way  until  the  ice  took,  and  then  another 
mode  of  sport  I  wish  to  describe  would  take 
place. 

Ice  in  one  night  on  these  shallow  waters  was 
sufficiently  strong  to  support  the  weight  of  one 
man.  Armed  with  a  long  barbed  spear  a  couple 
of  feet  in  length,  lashed  to  a  stout  pole,  a  bag 
on  his  back  to  put  the  rats  in,  and  sometimes 
followed  by  a  boy  at  a  distance,  the  Indian,  with 
his  bright  steel  skates  firmly  buckled  on,  would 
glide  down  and  in  and  out  these  skate  lanes 


INDIAN   MODE   OF    HUNTING   BEAVER.  93 

looking  for  rat  houses.  Practice  and  experience 
taught  him  to  get  over  the  ice  in  the  least  noisy 
way.  Instead  of  striking  out  one  foot  after  the 
other,  he  skated  as  the  people  of  Holland  do 
by  a  motion  of  the  hips.  It  is  not  a  graceful 
way,  but  it  is  easy  on  the  skater  of  long  distances 
on  new  glare  ice.  Sliding,  as  it  were,  down  to 
one  of  the  mud  cones  with  spear  firmly  grasped, 
he  would  drive  it  doAvn  into  the  center,  and  very 
rarely  missed  transfixing  one  and  at  times  two 
of  the  highly  perfumed  little  animals. 

The  interior  of  a  rat  house  is  a  saucer-like 
hollow  in  the  center,  just  a  little  above  the  level 
of  the  water.  From  the  edge  of  this  there  may 
be  three  or  four  slideways  into  deep  water.  At 
the  least  alarm  the  rats  tumble  down  these  in 
a  minute  and  only  return  when  all  danger  is 
past.  When  the  inhabitants  of  a  single  house 
number  eight,  ten  or  twelve  and  they  huddle 
together  for  warmth,  they  are  often  one  on  top 
of  another,  and  thus  the  spear  passes  thru  two 
at  one  thrust.  The  yet  unfrozen  mud  is  torn 
away  and  the  spear  with  the  rats  lifted  out,  dis- 
patched and  placed  in  the  bag,  and  the  hunter 
bears  down  to  another  house  and  so  on  thru  the 
day.  When  the  bag  becomes  too  heavy  it  is 
emptied  out  on  the  ice  and  the  hunt  continued. 
Towards  night  the  Indian  retraces  his  road  and 
picks  up  the  piles  he  left  earlier  in  the  day.    His 


94  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

leather  bag  is  converted  into  a  sled,  the  ends  of 
his  long  waisted  sash  are  tied  to  the  bag,  and 
with  the  loup  over  his  shoulder  he  strikes  out 
a  road  straight  for  his  camp,  well  pleased  with 
his  day's  sport  and  himself.  Knowledge  of  the 
architecture  of  the  musquash's  house  (for  they 
are  all  modeled  in  the  same  way)  enables  a 
bush  man  to  know  just  where  the  little  family 
are  huddled. 

There  is  yet  another  way  numbers  are  killed 
just  after  the  ice  takes,  and  before  the  mud 
houses  become  too  hard  frozen;  that  is  to  skate 
down  on  them  shot  gun  in  hand  and  fire  right 
into  the  cone  of  mud.  The  effect  is  not  known 
till  the  earth  is  pulled  away.  The  shot  being 
fired  at  such  close  range  there  is,  not  unfre- 
quently,  three  or  four  dead  rats.  One  can  not 
help  to  moralize  how  cruel  it  is  for  man  to 
destroy  at  a  moment  the  labors  of  long  nights 
of  these  industrious  little  animals,  and  cause 
the  remaining  one  to  patch  up  the  break  at  a 
season  when  it  can  never  be  as  good  and  warm 
as  when  the  work  is  done  during  open  Aveather. 

The  hunter  therefore  sets  his  traps,  so  as  to 
keep  them  employed,  but  he  kills  the  greater 
number  with  his  gun.  A  very  small  charge  of 
powder  and  shot  is  required,  and  if  the  hunter 
keeps  perfectly  quiet  in  his  canoe,  and  is  below 
the  wind,  he  can  call  the  rat  to  within  ten  feet 


INDIAN   MODE   OF    HUNTING  BEAVER.  95 

of  his  gun.  I  have  pushed  by  canoe  out  from 
the  shore  of  a  small  lake  and  called,  just  about 
sundown,  and  have  counted  no  fewer  than  six 
rats  coming  from  as  many  different  directions, 
One  waits  till  they  get  so  close  that  they  sheer 
off,  and  then  fire  sideways  at  the  head. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

INDIAN    MODE    OF    HUNTING    LYNX    AND    MAETEN. 

Snaring  is  the  principal  way  in  which  the 
lynxes  are  killed  by  the  North  American  In- 
dians. After  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  however,  if 
an  Indian  crosses  a  fresh  lynx  track,  he  imme- 
diately gives  chase,  even  if  he  has  only  his  belt 
axe. 

The  hunter  only  follows  very  fresh  tracks, 
and  in  a  short  time  comes  up  with  the  big  cat. 
As  soon  as  the  animal  knows  it  is  pursued,  it 
either  climbs  a  tree  or  crouches  under  some 
thick  shrub.  If  the  hunter  finds  it  up  a  tree, 
he  sets  to  work  at  once  to  cut  down  the  tree 
(that  is  if  he  has  no  gun).  As  soon  as  the  tree 
totters  he  makes  his  way  in  the  direction  which 
it  is  to  fall.  The  lynx  clings  to  the  tree  until 
near  the  ground,  and  then  springs  clear.  While 
he  is  floundering  in  the  snow,  the  Indian  brave- 
ly runs  in  and  knocks  him  with  his  axe.  Of 
course,  if  he  has  his  gun,  he  simply  shoots  the 
cat  and  it  tumbles  dead  to  the  foot  of  the  tree. 
The  feat  of  running  down  a  lynx  and  shooting 
him  with  a  bow  and  arrow  is  what  all  Indian 

96 


MODE   OF   HUNTING   LYNX   AND    MARTEN.       97 

youths  aim  to  accomplish ;  they  are  then  consid- 
ered hunters. 

Lynxes  are  always  found  in  greatest  num- 
bers where  their  natural  food  supply  is  most 
plentiful.  They  feed  usually  on  rabbits  and 
partridges,  and  these  are  to  be  found  in  young 
growth  of  such  trees  as  pitch  pine,  birch  and 
poplar. 

The  Indian  also,  when  he  is  dependent  on 
rabbits,  lives  on  the  border  of  such  a  country, 
and  has  long  lines  of  snares  which  he  visits  two 
or  three  times  a  week.  Along  this  snare  road 
at  certain  distances  he  has  his  lynx  snares, 
which  are  nothing  different  from  those  set  for 
rabbits,  except  being  much  larger.  Yes,  there 
is  another  difference:  Instead  of  the  snare  be- 
ing tied  to  a  tossing  pole,  it  is  simply  tied  to  a 
stout  birch  stick,  3  or  4  feet  long  by  about  2 
inches  in  diameter.  The  extreme  ends  of  this 
are  lodged  on  two  forked  sticks,  and  the  snare 
hanging  down  in  the  middle  is  then  set,  tied 
to  small  dry  twigs  on  each  side  to  keep  it  in 
position. 

At  the  back  of  the  snare,  at  about  2  or  3  feet, 
the  head  and  stuffed  skin  of  a  rabbit  is  fixed  un- 
der some  brush.  The  skin  is  filled  with  moss, 
or  pine  brush,  and  is  fixed  so  as  to  look  as  much 
as  possible  like  a  live  rabbit  in  its  form.     The 

7 


98  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

head  being  to  the  skin  gives  it  the  natural  shape 
and  smell,  and  the  Ijnx,  walking  leisurely  along 
the  snowshoe  track,  notices  the  game  and  makes 
a  spring  for  it  through  the  snare.  In  his  head- 
long bound  he  carries  snare  and  cross  stick 
along  with  him,  and  as  soon  as  he  feels  the  cord 
tightening  about  his  neck  he  not  infrequently 
becomes  his  own  executioner  by  getting  his  fore- 
feet on  the  stick  and  pulling  backwards  as  hard 
as  he  can.  The  more  he  struggles,  ihe  madder 
he  gets,  and  pulls  the  harder  to  free  himself,  but 
this  is,  on  the  contrary,  only  making  matters 
worse.  The  loop  of  the  noose  gets  matted  into 
the  soft,  thick  hair  of  the  throat,  and  there  is 
no  "slack"  after  that;  in  a  few  moments  the 
great  cat  is  dead. 

Sometimes  the  lynx  carries  the  cross  stick  in 
his  mouth  and  climbs  a  tree.  This  is  invariably 
the  last  tree  he  ever  climbs,  because  once  up  the 
tree  he  lets  the  stick  drop  and  it  hangs  down, 
generalh'  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  limb  from 
that  on  which  the  lynx  is.  As  the  cat  goes 
down  the  tree  on  one  side,  the  cross  stick  goes 
up  toward  the  limb  on  the  other  and  gets  fixed 
in  the  crotch.  As  soon  as  the  cord  tightens 
about  his  neck  he  tries  the  harder  to  get  down, 
and  is  consequently  hanging  himself. 

Lynxes  are  very  stupid.  They  will  even  put 
their  foot  into  an  open  and  exposed  steel  trap; 


MODE   OF    HUNTING   LYNX   AND   MARTEN.       99 

and  the  better-off  Indians  often  use  small  No. 
1  traps  instead  of  snares.  This,  however  is  only 
done  latterh^,  and  bj  the  very  well-off  Indians. 
As  a  rule  Indians  only  have  traps  for  beaver, 
otter,  fox  and  bear. 

Lynxes  are  very  rarely  seen  in  summer,  keep- 
ing close  to  the  thickest  bush.  In  any  case,  the 
skin  is  then  of  no  value,  and  they  are  far  from 
being  "a  thing  of  beauty,"  with  nothing  but  a 
bare  skin. 

In  the  prime  state  they  are  largely  used  on 

the  continent  as  linings,  and  each  skin  is  worth 

about  |4. 

*         *         * 

There  are  three  kinds  or  qualities  of  martens 
recognized  by  the  trappers. 

First. — The  pine  marten  that  is  found  in  the 
country  covered  by  soft  woods,  such  as  pine, 
spruce,  white  fir  and  birch.  This  is  the  most 
numerous  and  consequently  the  skins  are  of 
least  value.  They  are  of  j^ellowish  brown  color 
on  the  back  and  orange  on  the  throat,  changing 
down  to  pale  yellow  or  white  on  the  belly. 

Second. — The  rock  marten;  this  is  found  in 
a  country  with  stunted  growth  of  spruce  tim- 
ber, a  very  mountainous  district,  the  chief  fea- 
tures of  which  are  great  crevices  and  boulders. 
Some  of  the  skins  of  this  variety  are  of  great 


100  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

beauty,  being  dark  on  back,  and  throat  and  sides 
of  gray  or  stone  color. 

The  third  kind,  which  is  the  scarcest,  and 
consequently  of  most  value,  is  the  marten  found 
in  the  black  spruce  country,  or  swamps  of  north- 
ern Labrador.  The  fur  of  this  variety  is  of  a 
deep  brown  color  throughout  the  pelt,  and  at 
times  the  tips  of  the  hairs  on  the  rump  are  sil- 
ver gray  or  golden  brown.  The  latter  are  very 
rare,  and  such  skins  have  been  sold  in  the  Lon- 
don fur  market  for  £5  a  piece!  They  are  also 
much  larger  than  the  other  kinds,  the  skins  of 
the  male  often  being  from  24  to  30  inches  long, 
exclusive  of  the  tail. 

The  proper  and  most  successful  time  for 
hunting  is  in  the  latter  days  of  November  and 
the  whole  month  of  December.  They  are  hunted 
again  in  March,  but  by  that  time  the  sun  has 
bleached  out  the  color  of  the  hair,  which  causes 
a  depreciation  in  value. 

As  a  business,  trapping  is  the  only  mode  of 
killing  martens.  They  are  rarely  seen  to  be 
shot  at,  as  they  pass  the  days  in  thickets  or  hol- 
low stumps,  only  emerging  after  nightfall  to 
hunt  their  food,  which  consists  of  mice,  birds, 
young  partridges,  etc. 

Wooden  traps  are  made  in  the  well-known 
"figure-of-four"   shape,   and   are  set  either   on 


MODE  OP   HUNTING   LYNX  AND   MARTEN.    101 

stumps  or  on  the  snow,  flattened  down  with  the 
snowshoes,  and  the  trap  built  thereon. 

It  is  considered  a  very  good  day's  work  in 
December  for  a  trapper  to  construct,  bait  and 
set  up  twenty-five  such  traps.  A  real  marten 
hunter  (nothing  to  do  with  my  name)  camps 
each  night  at  the  end  of  his  day's  work  until  he 
has  from  150  to  200  traps  set!  He  generally 
visits  them  once  in  ten  days  or  a  fortnight,  and 
if  the  catch  averages  one  marten  to  ten  traps  it 
is  considered  very  fair. 

It  takes  the  hunter  two  full  days  to  rebait, 
clean  out  and  freshen  up  such  a  line.  When 
small  steel  traps  are  used  instead  of  the  dead- 
fall, the  hunter  can  cover  more  ground  in  a  day 
and  do  better  work  than  by  making  all  wood 
traps.  The  steel  traps  are  much  more  fortunate 
than  the  wood  ones.  In  the  "flgure-of-four" 
traps,  before  the  animal  is  caught  it  must  seize 
the  bait  with  its  teeth  and  pull  strong  enough 
to  set  off  the  trap,  whereas  with  the  steel  trap 
the  mere  fact  of  his  coming  to  the  doorway  to 
smell  insures  his  putting  his  foot  in  it,  and  in  a 
moment  up  hangs  Mr.  Marten  or  Mr.  Mink,  as 
the  case  may  be! 

Of  course  the  steel  traps  have  this  disadvant- 
age —  they  are  weighty ;  that  is,  when  you  have 
fifty  and  over  on  your  back,  but  the  man  who 
follows  trapping  as  a  business  can  very  easily 


102  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

overcome  this  difficulty  by  placing  catches  of 
traps  at  different  places  by  canoe  near  where  he 
proposes  to  have  his  line  in  the  Avinter;  and  he 
can  then  branch  off  now  and  again  for  a  new 
supply  as  he  is  setting  up  his  trap  road. 

This  leaving  the  main  road  at  right  angles 
once  in  a  while  might  even  be  a  source  of  jjrofit 
to  the  trapper,  for  he  might  come  across  a  bear 
den  or  a  beaver  lodge,  or  fall  on  deer  tracks,  and 
if  he  succeeded  in  killing  a  deer  some  of  the 
sinewy  parts  would  come  in  to  bait  his  traps. 

The  taking  of  the  skins  of  these  little  ani- 
mals is  very  simple.  The  knife  is  used  only 
about  the  head ;  once  back  of  the  ears  the  skin 
is  drawn  steadily  until  the  tail  is  reached,  the 
core  of  which  is  drawn  out,  either  by  a  split 
stick  or  by  the  stiff  thumb  nail  of  the  trapper. 
The  skin  is  then  dried  on  flat  (three)  splints, 
and  when  dried  sufficiently  to  prevent  it  spoil- 
ing is  tied  up  with  others  to  the  number  of  ten 
in  each  bundle,  and  are  thus  taken  to  the  trader 
or  fur  dealer. 

The  first  purchaser  from  the  trapper  gener- 
ally buys  them  at  an  average  price,  but  he  sells 
them  to  the  manufacturer  selected;  that  is,  get- 
ting a  high  price  for  the  dark  and  a  low  price  for 
the  yellow  or  pale. 


CHAPTElv  XIII. 

INDIAN  MODES  OF  HUNTING  FOXES. 

The  fox  as  a  rule  is  a  most  wily  animal,  and 
numerous  are  the  stories  of  his  cunning  toward 
the  Indian  hunter  with  his  steel  traps. 

Starvation  makes  them  catch  in  deadfalls, 
but  they  must  be  very  starved  indeed  before 
they  pull  a  piece  of  frozen  bait  and  have  a 
weight  fall  on  their  back.  The  skins  of  foxes 
killed  during  starvation  are  never  so  valuable, 
as  the  hair  then  lacks  the  rich  gloss.  When 
small  game  is  plenty,  such  as  rabbits  and  part- 
ridges, and  foxes  are  few,  the  skins  are  of  a 
deep  richness  not  seen  under  other  circum- 
stances. 

There  are  several  different  and  distinct  col- 
ors of  foxes  of  the  north  country.  They  are  all 
of  the  same  family,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  white  or  arctic  fox.  These,  apart  from 
their  difference  of  color,  differ  very  much  in 
their  characteristics.  They  are  not  cunning ;  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  positively  stupid.  They 
will  readily  catch  in  deadfalls,  and  will  walk 
into  an  open,  uncovered  steel  trap  in  daylight! 

103 


104  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Again  the  flesh  of  the  arctic  fox  is  eaten  as 
readily  as  that  of  the  hare  or  white  partridge; 
all  other  foxes  are  carrion ;  even  a  starving  In- 
dian would  give  them  the  go-by. 

Of  the  other  or  true  fox  we  have  many  col 
ors  and  shades  of  color,  and  I  give  them  in  their 
cash  value  rotation,  beginning  with  the  black 
or  pole  fox;  First,  black  or  pole;  second,  black 
silver;  third,  silver  gray;  fourth,  black  cross; 
fifth,  dark  cross;  sixth,  ordinary  cross;  sev- 
enth, light  cross;  eighth,  dark  blue  (i.  e.,  lead 
color);  ninth,  light  blue;  tenth,  bright  red; 
eleventh,  light  red;  twelfth,  arctic  white;  thir- 
teenth, pale  red. 

Number  thirteen  is  the  poorest  quantity  of 
the  fox  family,  and  is  worth  less  than  the  arctic 
white  fox. 

January  is  the  best  month  for  trapping. 
First,  because  the  fur  is  then  at  its  primest,  and 
second,  food  is  harder  to  get  and  the  fox  conse- 
quently more  likely  to  enter  a  trap. 

Of  course,  any  number  of  traps  will  catch  a 
fox,  but  not  every  trap  will  hold  him.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  the  trap  being  too  large  and 
strong,  as  well  as  too  small  and  weak!  When 
too  large  and  strong  it  catches  too  high  up  the 
leg,  and  being  too  strong  it  breaks  the  bone  at 
the  same  time;  and  then  in  cold  weather  it's 
only  a  question  of  a  few  minutes  for  the  frozen 


INDIAN   MODES  OF   HUNTING   FOXES.         105 

skin  and  muscles  of  the  leg  to  be  twisted  off  and 
Master  Fox  runs  away  on  three  legs,  ever  after 
to  be  too  cunning  to  be  caught  in  a  trap.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  trap  is  too  small  and  weak 
it  catches  the  fox  by  the  toes,  and  he  either  pully 
his  foot  clear  at  once  or  the  toes,  becoming 
frozen  and  insensible  to  feeling,  are  twisted  off: 
and^  this,  if  anything,  is  a  harder  fox  to  circum- 
vent than  the  one  with  half  a  leg. 

The  proper  trap  to  use  is  a  Newhouse  No. 
2.  When  properly  set  it  catches  just  above  all 
the  fingers,  as  it  were,  or  where  the  paw  or  foot 
would  correspond  with  the  thick  part  of  the 
hand.  There  is  a  good,  solid  hold  of  muscles, 
sinews,  etc.  There,  once  the  jaws  are  fixed, 
they  hold  the  fox  to  the  death. 

Fox  hunters  are  very  particular  to  keep 
everything  connected  with  the  trapping  away 
from  the  house  or  camp,  even  wearing  an  out- 
side pair  of  moccasins,  which  are  peeled  off  and 
hung  up  with  the  snowshoes. 

The  hunter  generally  places  his  trap  or  traps 
on  some  bare,  point  jutting  out  into  the  lake,  or 
some  narrows,  or  near  a  clump  of  willows  at  the 
edge  of  barren  grounds,  or  any  other  place  his 
judgment  tells  him  a  fox  is  likely  to  pass.  The 
fewer  signs  the  better;  therefore  instead  of  the 
chain  being  tied  to  a  picket,  a  stick  4  or  5  ft. 
long  is  slipped  through  the  ring  on  the  chain  up 


106  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

to  the  middle.  Here  it  is  securely  fastened,  so 
that  it  won't  slip  either  way.  A  trench  the 
length  of  the  stick  is  cut  down  in  the  snow  with 
the  head  of  the  axe,  and  the  i>ole  laid  therein 
about  a  foot  beneath  the  surface.  Snow  is  then 
piled  in  and  the  whole  packed  hard. 

The  trap  is  now  opened,  and  the  snow  packed 
down  with  the  back  of  the  man's  mitt,  large 
enough  to  lay  the  trap  and  spring  therein.  The 
trap  is  now  open  and  about  2  in.  lower  than 
the  surrounding  snow.  The  hunter  now  begins 
carefully  to  lay  fine  flat  balsam  bows  or  clusters 
of  needles  from  the  palate  out  to  the  jaws  until 
the  whole  is  covered ;  then  very  gently  he  either 
dusts  light  snow  over  this  until  it  has  the  same 
appearance  as  the  rest  or  he  takes  up  two  large 
pieces  of  frozen  snow  and  rubs  them  together 
over  the  trap  until  all  is  covered. 

Chopped  up  frozen  meat  or  fish,  a  supply  of 
which  the  trapper  is  provided  with,  is  now 
sprinkled  or  thrown  about,  beginning  15  or  20 
ft.  off  and  gradually  getting  more  plentiful  as 
the  trap  is  neared. 

With  a  brush  broom  the  hunter  dusts  his 
snowshoe  tracks  full  as  he  recedes  from  the 
trap  until  he  is  off  30  or  40  ft.;  after  that  no 
further  precaution  is  necessary  for  an  ordinary 
fox.  But  for  an  extraordinary  one  I  could  re- 
late a  hundred  different  ways  of  setting  traps 


INDIAN   MODES  OF  HUNTING  POXES.         107 

and  bait  to  overreach  the  wily  old  fellow;  but 
in  most  cases  it  is  time  wasted,  the  fox  eating 
the  bait  and  turning  the  traps  over  night  after 
nightj  much  to  the  vexation  of  the  hunter. 

It  is  a  pretty  sight  to  see  a  black  or  silver 
gray  fox  jumping  in  a  trap  on  the  pure  white 
snow.  I  went  one  time  with  Wa-sa-Kejic  to  see 
his  traps  in  the  barren  grounds  back  of  the  post. 
I  was  following  in  his  snowshoe  tracks  steadily, 
and  we  were  just  topping  a  small  swell  in  the 
country,  here  and  there  clumps  of  black  willows. 
All  at  once  he  stopped  so  suddenly  in  his  tracks 
that  I  fell  up  against  him. 

"There,"  he  said,  '"look  at  that!"  My  eye 
followed  his  finger,  and  there,  jumping  and 
struggling  to  get  away,  was  a  large  black  fox! 

"Let  me  shoot  him,"  I  exclaimed,  drawing 
my  gun  cover  as  I  spoke. 

"Oh,  no,"  he  replied,  "we  will  only  do  that 
if  he  pulls  himself  clear  of  the  trap."  And  with 
that  he  drew  his  belt  axe  and  walked  with  a 
steady  step  down  on  the  fox.  The  closer  he  got 
the  more  the  fox  struggled,  but  he  was  well 
and  freshly  caught,  and  the  trap  held  him  fast. 

'Wa-sa-Kejic  gave  him  a  tap  on  the  nose  with 
the  helve  of  the  axe,  which  had  the  effect  of 
stunning  him.  The  Indian  then  seized  him  with 
his  left  hand  by  the  throat,  and  with  his  right 
hand  felt  for  his  heart;  this  he  drew  gradually 


108  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

down  toward  the  stomach  until  the  heart  strings 
gave  way;  there  was  a  quiver,  and  the  fox  was 
thrown  down  on  the  snow  limp  and  dead. 

What  a  pleased  look  the  Indian  wore  as  he 
stood  there,  evidently  oblivious  to  my  presence 
for  the  moment,  as  he  gazed  down  on  the  most 
valuable  skin  it  was  possible  for  him  to  trap. 
What  a  number  of  necessaries  and  luxuries  this 
would  procure  for  his  family.  He  would  get 
from  the  factor  at  the  post  $80  for  that  one 
single  skin !  What  a  number  of  any  other  skins 
it  would  take  to  amount  to  that  sum! 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

INDIAN  MODES  OF  HUNTING  OTTER  AND  MUSQUASH. 

With  steel  or  wooden  traps  is  the  only  sys- 
tematical way  of  hunting  these  animals.  They 
are,  of  course,  hunted  for  their  pelts  in  the  north 
country  of  Canada,  and  not  for  sport,  as  in  Scot- 
land. A  few  are  shot,  but  these  are  met  with 
by  chance. 

November  is  when  the  Indian  sets  his  traps 
for  otters.  They  have  then  their  full  winter 
coats  on;  and  it  is  just  before  the  small  lakes 
and  rivers  set  fast. 

Their  resort  is  generally  in  some  chain  of 
small  lakes  with  creeks  connecting  the  chain, 
and  their  home,  if  they  can  find  one,  is  an  empty 
beaver  lodge.  They  prefer  such  a  place,  as  af- 
ter the  ice  is  taken  in  fishing  along  shore,  they 
carry  the  fish  into  one  of  the  "washes,"  where 
they  can  breathe  and  eat  with  safety  and  com- 
fort. 

The  otter  is  a  great  enemy  of  the  beaver,  but 
never  willingly  courts  an  encounter;  yet,  every 
time  they  meet,  there  is  a  terrible  battle.  I  re- 
member years  ago  coming  out  on  a  small  lake 

109 


110  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

about  sundown,  and  seeing  a  great  commotion 
on  the  surface  of  the  water  a  few  hundred  yards 
out,  jumped  into  my  canoe  and  quietly  paddled 
out.  As  I  drew  near,  I  noticed  two  black  ob- 
jects engaged  in  a  deadly  conflict.  Although 
they  must  have  observed  the  canoe,  they  i^aid  no 
attention,  but  continued  the  fight,  sometimes 
disappearing  beneath  the  surface,  fast  to  each 
other,  for  a  full  minute. 

When  within  gunshot,  I  made  out  the  com- 
battants  to  be  an  otter  and  a  beaver,  and  could 
have  despatched  the  two  with  one  shot,  only  I 
could  plainly  see  they  were  both  very  much  ex- 
hausted, and  I  wished  to  see  which  would  gain 
the  day. 

The  end  was  nearer  than  I  expected.  Once 
more  they  disappeared  beneath  the  waters,  each 
maintaining  the  same  deadly  grip  of  the  other's 
neck;  a  few  moments  later  the  beaver  floated  to 
the  surface  on  its  back,  dead.  I  looked  about 
for  the  otter,  and  saw  him  swimming  toward  the 
shore,  bleeding  profusely  from  many  wounds 
and  evidently  hurt  to  the  death.  I  followed, 
however,  with  my  gun  full  cocked,  ready  if  need 
be  to  shoot  him;  but  the  beaver's  long,  sharp, 
spade-like  teeth  had  done  their  work  well,  for 
the  otter  all  at  once  rose  half  out  of  the  water, 
pawed  about  for  a  minute  in  a  blind  way,  turned 


HUNTING    OTTER  AND   MUSQUASH.  Ill 

over  on  his  side,  gave  one  convulsive  quiver,  and 
he  also  was  dead. 

A  No.  3  Newhouse  trap  is  generally  used. 
In  fact,  this  number  is  called  throughout  the 
country  "otter  trap."  These  traps  are  set  at  the 
overflow  of  beaver  dams  and  otter  slideways 
during  the  open  water  and  at  little  portages 
used  by  water  rats  crossing  from  one  bend  of  a 
small  river  to  another.  No  bait  is  used;  the 
trap  is  set  in  about  4  inches  of  water  with  a 
picket  out  in  deep  water  to  tie  the  chain  to  and 
a  small  piece  of  castorum  on  a  forked  stick. 

The  odor  of  the  beaver  castor  has  a  very  al- 
luring effect  on  most  all  animals,  and  is  greatly 
used  by  the  hunter. 

Traps  for  otters  are  set  in  the  following  way, 
under  the  ice :  A  place  is  selected  in  some  small 
creek,  connecting  two  lakes,  where  signs  of  ot- 
ters are  found.  These  signs  are  noticeable  at 
the  discharge  of  the  lake,  where  the  lake  ice  thins 
off  into  open  water,  for  the  ice  is  so  thin  that 
the  otter  readily  breaks  a  hole  to  come  out  on 
the  ice  to  eat  the  fish.  The  otter  is  a  fish-eating 
animal,  and  is  very  expert  in  catching  them. 

Their  slideways  are  generally  made  on  some 
moss-covered,  rocky  promontory,  jutting  out 
into  a  lake.  Here  they  will  climb  up  one  side 
and  slide  down  the  other  for  hours  at  a  time. 


112  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Otters,  when  taken  young,  are  readily  tamed 
and  become  great  pets. 

Another  way  of  setting  traps  in  winter  is  un- 
der the  ice  in  some  creek  where  otters  are  known 
to  resort.  The  ice  is  cut  away  from  the  bank, 
outward,  for  about  3  feet  long  by  1  foot  or  so 
wide.  Each  side  of  this  cut  is  staked  with  dry 
sticks,  driven  into  the  mud  or  sandy  bottom. 
The  trap  is  set  between  the  stakes  at  the  outer 
end,  in  about  4  inches  of  water  at  least;  that 
is,  the  water  may  be  deeper  than  that,  but  two 
cross  sticks  are  so  placed  that  the  otter  in  en- 
tering must  go  under  the  sticks  and  thus  gets 
caught.  The  picket  to  secure  the  trap  chain  to 
is  out  from  the  trap,  as  in  open-water  time. 

To  induce  him  to  enter,  a  small  whitefish  or 
trout  is  placed  on  a  forked  stick  near  the  shore, 
and  is  so  fixed  that  it  appears  to  be  alive  and 
swimming.  As  soon  as  the  trap  is  struck,  the 
otter  jumps  backward  into  deep  water,  and  for 
want  of  air  is  soon  dead. 

*         *         * 

In  Canada  and  the  United  States,  the  kill- 
ing of  the  little  animal  known  under  the  several 
names  of  water  rat,  musquash  and  muskrat  is 
so  well  understood  by  the  average  frontier  boy 
that  any  information  I  can  give  would  be  per- 
haps a  repetition. 

Still  there  is  one  way  that  the  Indian  prac- 


HUNTING  OTTER  AND    MUSQUASH.  113 

tices  which  is  certainly  not  known  to  the  whites, 
and  is  at  a  certain  time  very  successful.  That 
is  spearing  them  on  the  ice;  and  another  mode 
in  which  the  Indians  are  very  successful  in  the 
fall  is  digging-  them  out,  or  "trenching"  them, 
in  the  same  way  they  do  the  beaver,  only  with 
much  less  labor,  as  it  is  done  before  the  ponds 
and  creeks  freeze  up.  I  will  describe  the  latter 
way  first,  seeing  it  comes  before  that  of  spearing. 

The  resort  of  musquash  (always  where  they 
are  in  numbers)  is  along  grassy  rivers,  creeks, 
or  ponds;  for  they  store  up  large  quantities  of 
the  long,  flat  grass  for  winter  use,  as  the  beaver 
does  with  young  birch  and  poplar.  The  Indian 
paddling  along  the  shores  of  such  places  has  his 
eyes  fixed  on  the  bottom  of  the  water;  presently 
he  perceives  the  entrance  to  one  of  the  rat  bur- 
rows; he  stops  his  canoe  and  gazes  fixedly  on 
the  opening,  which  is  always  about  a  foot  under 
water.  At  last  he  sees  the  water  ebb  and  flow 
in  and  out  of  the  hole.  This  is  a  sure  sign  that 
the  "wash"  is  occupied  at  that  very  moment  by 
one  or  more  rats. 

He  at  once,  either  with  his  axe  or  the  blade 
of  his  sharp  maple  paddle,  chops  down  the  mud 
bank  until  he  has  an  embankment  or  dam.  This 
is  to  prevent  the  musquash  from  running  out  to 
deep  water.     When  all  is  ready,  either  his  wife 


114  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

or  the  boy  who  is  steering  the  canoe  is  sent 
ashore  to  prod  about  the  honey-combed  bank 
with  the  handle  of  his  paddle.  The  little  ani- 
mals thus  disturbed  and  thoroughly  frightened 
make  a  rush  for  the  outlet,  deep  water  and 
safety,  but  (there  is  always  a  "but")  the  Indian, 
with  his  upraised  paddle,  has  his  eye  steadily 
fixed  on  the  water  back  of  his  dam,  and  as  fast 
as  one  makes  its  appearance  the  sharp  edge  of 
the  paddle  is  brought  down  on  its  head  or  back, 
and  it  is  thrown  into  the  canoe,  quivering  in  its 
death  agony.  From  two  to  eight  or  nine  are 
not  infrequently  taken  from  one  hole.  When 
the  last  one  is  killed,  the  Indian  moves  his  canoe 
on  until  he  finds  another  colony,  and  the  same 
process  is  gone  over  again,  and  he  returns  to  his 
camp  with  his  canoe  filled  with  musquash.  I 
have  in  the  fall  received  from  one  Indian  as 
many  as  2,000  skins,  large  and  small. 

Musquash  breed  twice  in  the  summer,  and 
bring  forth  at  each  litter  from  six  to  eight.  In 
the  fall  the  large  ones  fetch  the  hunters  ten 
cents,  and  the  kits,  or  small  ones,  five  cents. 

The  spearing  of  the  musquash  is  done  in  this 
wise :  The  rats  throw  up  little  mud-cone  lodges, 
or  houses,  out  from  the  shore,  in  about  a  foot  of 
water.  They  are  not  unlike  beaver  lodges.  The 
inside  is  hollow  and  the  entrance  is  under  water. 
In  this  resort  the  rats  sit,  huddled  together,  dur- 


HUNTING   OTTER  AND    MUSQUASH.  115 

ing  most  of  the  severe  winter  weather.  The 
Imnter,  therefore,  as  soon  as  the  ice  will  bear 
his  weight,  slides  up  to  the  rat  houses,  armed 
with  a  sharp,  barbed,  steel  spear,  about  a  foot 
long,  let  into  the  end  of  a  small  tamarae  han- 
dle. This  handle  is  generally  about  8  feet  long. 
Arriving  close  to  the  lodge,  he  poises  the  spear 
in  mid-air  for  a  moment  and  drives  it  down 
through  the  lodge  with  all  his  might.  If  he 
pierced  a  rat,  he  feels  it  wriggling  on  the  spear, 
and  keeps  it  fast  there  until  he  has  torn  away 
the  mud  and  grass.  He  then  seizes  it  by  the  tail 
and  draws  it  with  a  jerk  from  the  spear  and 
knocks  it  on  the  ice,  which  finishes  Mr.  Rat.  At 
times,  when  there  are  a  number  of  musquash  in 
the  same  lodge  at  the  same  time,  the  spear  often 
passes  through  two,  or  even  three,  at  one  stroke. 
This  is  great  sport  where  the  lodges  are  numer- 
ous. 

Musquash  killed  under  the  ice  are  worth  two 
or  three  cents  each  more  than  in  the  fall,  and 
the  hunter  makes  frequently  two  to  four  dollars 
a  day  while  it  lasts. 

The  flesh  of  musquash  killed  under  the  ice 
is  highly  esteemed  by  the  Indians.  It  has  then 
its  winter  fat  on,  and  is  free  from  the  objection- 
able odor  which  prevails  in  the  spring. 

The  skins  of  the  large  ones,  when  dressed, 
make  strong  and  durable  lining  for  cloaks,  coats, 


116  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

etc.,  and  are  made  up  into  caps  also.  The  "kit 
skins"  are  used  in  large  numbers  in  the  manu- 
facture of  kid  gloves.  The  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany exports  annually  about  3,000,000  skins. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

REMARKABLE  SUCCESS. 

Of  all  the  lucky  hunters  I  ever  knew  I  accord 
the  bun  to  Na-ta-way.  He  was  one  of  the  en- 
gaged servants  at  the  post  in  Canada,  and  when- 
ever he  put  on  his  snowshoes  and  sailed  forth 
from  the  gates,  some  creature  or  bird  would 
cross  his  path  or  vision.  To  do  this  and  come 
within  reasonable  distance  of  Na-ta-way's  small 
bore,  muzzle-loading  rifle  was  sure  and  speedy 
death  to  the  unfortunate  beast  or  bird. 

I  could  never  understand  why  he  chose  to  be 
a  servant  in  the  Company  in  preference  to  be- 
ing free  to  roam  the  lakes,  rivers  and  forests, 
because  had  he  elected  to  follow  the  occupation 
of  a  trapper  and  hunter  he  could  not  have  failed 
to  make  double  the  money.  Other  Indians  had 
traps  set  all  around  and  quite  near  the  post  and 
yet  Na-ta-way  would  kill  as  much  as  the  average 
one,  with  only  a  poor  half  day  off  and  his  day 
on  Sunday. 

I  never  saw  his  equal  for  quickness  in  set- 
ting deadfalls  or  rabbit  snares.  However,  this 
partakes  more  of  a  biography  than  what  I  set 

117 


118  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

out  to  relate,  and  yet  it  is  an  indispensable  di- 
gression to  enable  the  reader  to  believe  the  won- 
derful and  remarkable  success  this  man  had  one 
day  when  he  was  given  leave  from  daylight  to 
night.  There  was  a  weighty  reason  for  this 
extra  freedom  from  duty  for  the  fact  was  the 
post  people  were  short  of  meat.  The  month  was 
April  and  our  frozen  supply  nearly  used  up. 

Na-ta-way  knew  of  a  single  moose  yard,  or 
more  properly  speaking,  a  yard  with  a  single 
moose  as  occupant.  To  kill  a  lone  moose  on  the 
crust  does  not  require  the  combined  efforts  of 
two  or  more  persons,  therefore  Xa-ta-way  was 
told  to  go  and  kill  the  moose  and  skin  and  quar- 
tre  the  animal,  which  considering  the  distance 
to  go  and  come,  apiounted  to  a  very  good  day's 
work.  But  Na-ta-way  besides  doing  this  and 
doing  it  well,  accomplished  much  more. 

Coming  down  from  the  moose  mountain  to 
get  better  walking,  he  crossed  the  fresh  tracks 
of  a  large  bear.  This  was  nuts  to  our  man.  He 
immediately  turned  aside  and  followed  up  the 
trail,  ramming  down  one  of  his  little  pea  bullets 
as  he  went.  The  lieat  of  the  morning  sun  had 
softened  the  crust  of  the  night  and  Mr.  Bruin 
was  making  headway  with  difficulty.  In  fact, 
Na-ta-way  had  not  gone  over  half  a  mile  when 
he  sighted  the  bear  and  was  very  soon  close  up 
to  him. 


REMARKABLE  SUCCESS.  119 

The  bear  had  two  kind  of  ideas.  One  was  to 
climb  a  tree  and  the  second  to  run  away,  neither 
of  which  was  carried  into  effect,  for  a  bullet 
stopped  the  cowardly  act  of  running,  and  a 
second  one  in  the  ear  stilled  him  forever.  Tlie 
skin  and  the  paws  were  all  the  hunter  carried 
away.  The  meat  would  be  got  when  the  men 
came  for  the  moose. 

Na-ta-way  was  very  soon  swinging  on  down 
the  mountain  and  struck  a  creek  which  emptied 
into  one  of  a  chain  of  lakes,  that  in  turn  drained 
into  the  big  Ka-kee-bon-ga  lake  upon  which  the 
post  was  situated.  Following  down  this  creek 
he  noticed  ahead  of  him  a  mink,  working  his 
way  up  along  the  shore,  noseing  every  hole  as 
he  came.  Nothing  was  too  big  or  too  small  for 
Na-ta-way.     Poor  little  mink! 

When  he  got  abreast  of  the  man  on  the  ice, 
stood  on  its  hind  legs  to  get  a  better  view  of  the 
strange  object,  but  at  that  instant  its  sight  be- 
came blurred,  for  it  tumbled  over  dead.  It  was 
so  full  of  life,  energy  and  curiosity  a  few  mo- 
ments ago,  was  now  being  carried  on  tlie  In- 
dian's back,  shoved  into  the  folds  of  the  bear 
skin. 

But  then,  if  we  moralize,  a  man  is  walking 
with  elastic  step  along  a  street  when  Presto! 
the  heart  stops,  and  he  is  being  carried  feet  fore- 


120  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

mcst  by  some  three  or  four  horror-struck  pedes- 
trians. 

The  hour  was  then  high  noon,  snow  soft  and 
walking  bad.  Na-ta-way  had  covered  several 
miles  and  done  much  since  he  had  left  his  bed 
that  morning.  His  inner  man  began  to  crave 
for  food,  the  conditions  were  favorable,  wood 
water  and  a  sunny  bank.  What  could  be  more 
alluring  to  a  weary  man?  A  bright  fire  was 
soon  burning  with  the  ever  welcome  tea  kettle 
hanging  in  the  blaze,  the  hunter  on  his  knees  in 
front  waiting  for  it  to  boil. 

Another  digression  right  here.  I  never  saw 
a  man  make  tea,  but  after  chucking  in  an  ample 
quantity  of  the  precious  leaves  from  China, 
would  throw  in  another  pinch,  either  to  make 
sure  of  there  being  a  proper  strength  in  the 
brew  or  for  good  luck.  Be  the  reason  what  it 
may,  they  all  do  it.    I  do  it  myself. 

Continuing  on  his  march  after  his  mid-day 
lunch,  Na-ta-way  came  to  a  small  lake.  What 
is  it  that  causes  him  to  stop  and  cast  h's  eyes 
about?  The  lake  is  full  banks  and  therefore 
at  that  season  must  contain  beaver.  Yes,  there 
stood  the  lodge  on  the  opposite  side  and  a  well 
understood  mark  leading  from  the  open  water 
in  front  up  into  the  bush.  The  beaver  had  come 
out  the  day  before. 

What  Indian,  or  white  man  for  that  matter. 


REMARKABLE  SUCCESS.  121 

can  resist  the  chance  offered  to  eat  beaver  meat? 
Na-ta-way  looked  at  the  Indians'  clock,  the  sun, 
with  a  satisfied  expression  and  his  mind  was 
made  up;  he  would  wait  the  coming  ashore  to 
feed.  A  comfortable  spot  was  selected  within 
gun  shot  of  the  place  of  debarkation.  Here  he 
tramped  a  hole  in  soft  snow  and  strewed  some 
balsam  branches  on  the  bottom  upon  which  he 
crouched  and  waited. 

There  was  no  uncertainty  as  in  the  song  the 
girl  sang,  "He  cometh  not,"  for  he  had  hardly 
taken  up  his  position  before  out  struggled  a 
young  beaver  and  passed  up  the  path  leading  to 
the  young  growth  of  trees.  But  Na-ta-way  knew 
better  than  to  fire  at  this  one.  No,  the  beaver 
passed  on  and  up,  giving  grunts  of  anticipation.- 
Number  two  came  ashore  and  ambled  inland 
without  being  molested.  Now,  however,  Na-ta- 
way  was  all  alertness.  With  his  rifle  cocked 
and  his  belt  axe  handy  in  front  he  waited  the 
advent  of  another  emblem  of  Canada.  In  a 
few  minutes  out  he  came  to  join  his  brothers 
or  sisters  who  were  already  feasting  on  young 
sappy  trees. 

The  crack  of  the  rifle  echoed  far  and  near  in 
the  clear,  mild  atmosphere,  but  before  it  died 
away,  the  Indian  stood  over  the  shot  beaver  and 
barred  the  path  against  the  frightened  return- 
ing ones.    The  first  coming  down  the  hill  he  shot. 


122  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

The  whole  slaughter  was  well  planned  and  car- 
ried out. 

Three  young  beaver  make  a  pretty  solid 
lump  on  a  man's  back,  but  a  hunter  may  leave 
moose  meat  and  bear's  meat  in  the  bush  to  a 
chance  wolf,  but  beaver,  no!  hardly!  even  if  he 
has  to  make  double  trips.  Na-ta-way  had  car- 
ried heavy  weights  slung  by  a  portage  strap 
across  his  forehead  from  childhood  and  could 
well  support  and  carry  what  he  now  had. 

I  well  remember  that  night  when  he  entered 
our  kitchen  and  let  slide  off  his  back  that  mix- 
ture of  beaver,  mink  and  bear  skin.  In  four- 
teen hours  he  had  walked  about  ten  miles  and 
killed:  1  moose,  1  mink,  1  bear  and  3  beaver. 
•Verilv  this  was  luck  or  success. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

things  to  avoid. 

Winter. 

Never  leave  your  axe  out  doors  all  night. 
Intense  cold  makes  it  exceedingly  brittle,  most 
likely  the  first  knot  you  put  it  into  will  cause  a 
gash  in  the  blade  and  an  axe  is  an  essential  part 
of  a  trapper's  outfit,  and  impossible  to  replace 
when  far  from  settlements. 

Never  dry  your  snowshoes  near  the  fire,  but 
plant  them  some  distance  away  to  be  dried  by 
the  frost.  The  fire  acting  on  the  dampness  in 
the  knitting  cooks  the  fiber  of  the  leather  and 
causes  the  shoe  to  give  out  before  its  proper 
time. 

Never,  in  very  cold  weather,  carry  your  gun 
by  the  barrel;  if  occasion  caused  you  to  fire  it 
off,  the  chances  are  the  barrel  will  burst  at  the 
place  where  your  hand  heated  the  iron. 

Never  after  wringing  out  your  wet  mocca- 
sins place  them  near  the  fire  to  dry,  but  scrape 
out  any  remaining  moisture  with  the  back  of  the 
sheathe  knife,  stuff  each  shoe  with  brush  and 
hang  at  back  of  camp  to  dry  gradually. 

123 


124  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

The  brush  keeps  the  shoes  extended  and  per- 
mits the  heat  to  permeate  to  all  parts. 

Never  put  on  the  same  shoe  on  the  same  foot 
two  days  in  succession.  The  shoe  will  wear 
much  longer  and  retain  its  shape  by  interchang- 
ing. 

In  wearing  moose  or  deer  skin  shoes  begin 
by  wearing  them  wrong  side  out  until  almost 
worn  through,  then  turn,  and  you  have  the  grain 
side  of  the  leather.  Thus  your  shoe  will  last  al- 
most twice  as  long. 

Never  travel  without  an  extra  undershirt 
and  a  spare  pair  of  socks;  with  the  trunk  and 
feet  dry  and  warm  there  is  some  chance  of 
salvation  for  a  man  if  he  was  unfortunate 
enough  to  break  through  the  ice  or  obliged  to 
travel  through  the  wet  in  the  spring.  The  days 
may  be  mild  enough  but  the  nights  are  cold. 

Never  cut  your  night's  wood  from  low 
ground  bordering  on  water.  It  will  cause  you 
untold  annoyance  by  continually  shooting  off 
live  coals  and  sparks  all  over  your  blankets. 

In  selecting  your  camping  place  have  your 
fire  slightly  higher  than  your  bed.  Most  places, 
(unless  on  rock),  are  eaten  away  by  action  of 
the  fire,  and  by  the  time  you  turn  in  you  will 
have  the  fire  on  a  level. 

Never  consider  your  work  complete  until  you 
have  an  armful  of  fine  cut  up  dry  wood  or  a 


THINGS   TO   AVOID.  125 

supply  of  birch  bark  handy.  From  excessive 
fatigue  you  may  oversleep  and  wake  thoroughly 
chilled.  In  such  an  instance  you  want  a  quick 
bright  fire,  no  fumbling  about  trying  to  ignite 
some  half  burnt  sticks. 

Never  leave  any  excess  of  firewood  lying  on 
the  snow  to  become  sodden  on  the  ground  and 
covered  by  the  following  winter's  snow,  thus  to 
be  useless  to  you  or  anyone  else  passing  that 
way.  A  few  moments  in  the  morning  before 
taking  the  trail  will  stand  it  on  end  under  some 
tree  and  it  is  good  for  future  use. 

Never  underestimate  your  wood  require- 
ments for  the  night.  It  is  better,  yes,  much  bet- 
ter, to  have  a  surplus  than  to  turn  out  before 
daylight  to  replenish  your  fire. 

Never,  if  you  are  dragging  a  toboggan  or 
sleigh,  leave  it  flat  on  its  track  where  your  day's 
march  ends,  but  turn  it  on  its  side,  if  loaded,  or 
stand  it  up,  if  empty,  and  scrape  or  rub  off  any 
frost  on  the  bottom  or  runners.  The  next  day 
it  will  slide  easy,  otherwise  the  empty  sleigh 
alone  will  be  a  load. 

Never  put  your  game  or  fish  to  cook  in  boil- 
ing water.  Place  it,  in  preference,  in  cold  and 
bring  to  the  boil,  then  let  it  simmer  till  done. 

I  have  seen  the  Indians  on  a  very  cold  night* 
when  on  the  trail,  make  a  new  fire  where  we  had 
been  sitting  and  spread  our  brush  and  blankets 


126  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

on  the  old  fire  place.  The  ground  being  thawed 
out  our  brush  retained  considerable  warmth  till 
morning. 

Never,  in  the  winter,  make  your  camp  fire 
directly  under  a  large  snow  laden  tree.  The 
heat  of  the  fire  will  melt  the  snow  and  the  drop- 
ping water  cause  much  annoyance  and  discom- 
fort, or  high  winds  may  spring  up  before  morn- 
ing and  send  the  snow  about  your  fire  and  camp. 

Never  carry  all  your  supply  of  matches 
about  your  person,  have  a  few,  even  though  only 
a  half  dozen,  in  some  damp-proof  article 
amongst  your  blankets.  A  very  good  recepta- 
cle if  you  have  not  a  water  proof  box,  is  an  empty 
Pain  Killer  vial.  See  that  it  is  thoroughly  dry, 
drop  in  your  few  matches  and  cork  tightly. 

This  is  for  an  emergency  and  can  be  car- 
ried about  for  months  or  years,  and  only  opened 
under  necessity,  when  perhaps  one  dry  match 
will  save  your  life. 

Never  leave  your  gun  loaded  in  camp!  The 
iron  draws  the  dampness  and  imparts  it  to  the 
cartridges.  Next  day  they  may  prove  slow  fire 
or  not  explode  at  all.  Have  your  cartridges 
handy  if  you  will,  but  really  there  is  no  neces- 
sity. The  days  of  wolves  and  savage  Indians 
are  past  and  in  most  parts  of  the  "wild"  there 
is  nothing  to  molest  man. 

One  other  axiom  I  will  adduce  and  not  prefix 


THINGS  TO   AVOID.  127 

it  with  the  negative  "Never,"  because  it  is  not 
always  possible  to  adhere  to  this  principle. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  position 
one  assumes  when  making  one's  bed  has  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  getting  a  restful  night's  repose. 
When  i)ossible  lie  with  your  head  to  the  north. 
The  magnetic  earth  currents  flow  from  the 
north,  and  thus  from  your  head  down  through 
your  body.  The  tired  feeling  you  had  when  re- 
tiring has  all  flowed  out  through  your  feet  be- 
fore morning. 

This  fact  may  appear  absurd  to  a  person  not 
giving  the  subject  sufficient  thought,  but  it  is  on 
the  same  principle  as  a  person  stroking  your 
hair  downwards.  The  result  is  quieting  and 
soothing,  but  if  he  rubs  it  the  contrary  way  it 
irritates  and  is  hurtful. 

I  have  proved  the  truth  of  this  assertion 
many  times  during  my  nights  on  the  trail.  I 
have  purposely  rolled  in  my  blanket  with  my 
head  to  the  south,  and  arose  the  following  morn- 
ing, unrested,  and  my  body  "broken  up." 

The  foregoing  may  be  and  is  rather  dis- 
jointed, because  I  have  penned  each  subject  as 
they  came  to  my  mind,  but  the  reader  may  rest 
assured  they  are  worth  memorizing  and  were 
learned  by  the  writer  during  long  years  of  hard- 
ships. 


128  CANADIAN    WILDS. 


Summer. 

Suppose  your  canoe  has  been  turned  over  on 
the  beach  all  night,  never  launch  it  in  the  morn- 
ing without  first  thoroughly  examining  the  bot- 
tom from  end  to  end.  If  there  are  rabbits  or 
rats  about,  the  place  of  a  greasy  hand  is  enough 
to  draw  them,  and  they  will  gnaw  a  lot  of  boat 
for  very  little  grease. 

This  might  be  overlooked  in  the  hurry  of  get- 
ting away,  and  the  canoe  either  sink  under  you 
or  sufficient  water  enter  to  damage  your  things. 

Once  my  chum  and  I  were  making  our  way 
up  river  with  our  supplies.  Amongst  the  pro- 
visions was  a  half  barrel  of  pork.  When  camp- 
ing the  first  night  we  left  the  pork  near  the  over- 
turned canoe.  The  rest  of  our  outfit  we  carried 
up  to  our  camp  on  the  top  of  the  river  bank, 
thinking  nothing  would  touch  a  solid  hardwood 
barrel. 

Well,  in  the  grey  morning,  when  we  went  to 
get  water  for  our  coffee  we  found  the  staves  in 
shooks  and  the  bricks  of  pork  scattered  about 
the  gravelly  beach.  Rabbits  had  cut  the  hoops 
and  the  barrel  had  fallen  to  pieces.  The  rest 
was  easy  to  the  rabbit  —  not  to  us. 

If  you  are  a  lone  hunter  never  travel  in  sum- 
mer without  an  extra  paddle.     You  may  lug  this 


THINGS   TO   AVOID.  129 

about  all  season  and  never  require  it  but  once, 
but  that  once  you  will  be  glad  you  have  it. 

Often  when  approaching  game  it  is  expedi- 
ent to  drop  the  paddle  quietly  in  the  water  when 
taking  up  your  gun.  In  the  stillness  of  the 
wild,  the  noise  of  placing  the  paddle  inboard  is 
sufficient  to  scare  away  the  game  and  the  chance 
is  lost.  With  a  spare  paddle  at  hand  the  hun- 
ter can  quickly  pursue  the  wounded  game  or 
paddle  back  and  pick  up  the  dropped  paddle. 

If  you  have  a  chum  a  second  paddle  is  not 
necessary,  as  he  can  either  forge  the  canoe  ahead 
or  back  her  to  where  you  dropped  yours. 

Never  talk  or  make  unnecessary  noise  while 
hunting.  Old  hunters  never  do.  It  is  only 
about  the  camp  fire  they  talk,  and  even  there  al- 
ways in  a  low  tone  of  voice. 

Old  hunters  communicate  to  one  another  all 
that  is  necessar}^  by  a  shake  of  the  canoe,  a  nod 
of  the  head  or  motions  of  the  hands. 

When  portaging  at  a  carrying  place  never 
when  you  get  to  the  other  end,  put  the  canoe 
down  at  once,  but  let  the  man  in  front  first  scan 
carefully  all  about  each  side  of  the  lake  or  river 
as  far  as  the  eye  Avill  carry.  Something  might 
be  on  the  surface,  standing  in  the  shallows,  or 
in  the  edge  of  the  bush,  which  the  noise  of  put- 
ting down  the  canoe  would  frighten  away. 

9 


130  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

If  you  wish  to  avoid  the  dew  of  the  morn- 
ing, camp  at  the  upper  end  of  a  carrying  place, 
i.  e.,  rapid,  but  if  you  wish  to  have  a  refreshing 
slumber  camp  at  the  foot  of  the  rapid,  have  your 
head  up  stream  and  pointing  to  the  north  if  pos- 
sible. 

Never  push  on  and  camp  on  the  border  of 
some  small  stagnant  lake,  merely  to  add  a  little 
length  to  your  day's  trail.  Better  camp  this 
side  and  have  living  water  for  your  cooking  pur- 
poses. 

If  you  were  hunting  in  the  fall  in  a  beaver 
country  and  watching  to  shoot  them  in  the  even- 
ing: 

Never,  if  it  is  a  big  lodge,  fire  at  the  first  or 
even  the  second  beaver  that  breaks  water.  If 
you  do,  good-bye  to  the  others  for  that  night. 
It  is  better  to  allow  the  first  and  second  to  swim 
away  along  shore  to  their  wood-yards  unmo- 
lested. The  next  to  make  its  appearance  will 
most  likely  be  one  of  the  old  ones.  This  kill  if 
you  can,  and  then  paddle  slowly  in  the  direction 
the  first  has  taken.  The  chances  are  you  will 
meet  them  coming  back  or  see  them  ashore  cut- 
ting wood. 

See  that  your  two  or  three  traps  are  in  good 
order,  and  leave  the  lake  for  your  camp  before 
darkness  sets  in. 


THINGS   TO   AVOID.  131 

Your  camp  should  be  half  a  mile  away  and 
to  the  leaward  of  the  beaver  lake. 

In  the  spring-  of  the  year  beaver  begin  to 
swim  early  in  the  afternoon  and  take  to  their 
lodge  late  in  the  morning.  In  the  autumn  when 
the  nights  are  long  they  break  water  late  and 
are  not  to  be  seen  after  sunrise  next  morning. 

If  you  see  two  beaver  at  one  time  swimming 
and  shoot  one,  leave  it  floating  on  the  water. 
The  chances  are  the  second  one  will  make  a 
short  dive,  and  you  want  to  be  ready  with  your 
gun  when  he  comes  up.  I  have  often  got  one 
with  each  barrel  this  ^yaJ. 

By  shooting  in  the  evening  and  leaving  three 
traps  set  I  have  cleaned  out  a  lodge  of  seven 
beaver  in  an  evening  and  a  night,  from  4  P.  M. 
to  7  A.  M.  next  morning,  and  this  with  only  a 
boy  of  ten  years  old  for  a  companion. 

The  hardest  part  was  in  packing  them  and 
my  canoe  out  ojer  five  carrying  places.  But, 
oh !  when  the  bunch  was  at  the  post  what  recom- 
pense, all  those  fine,  rich  furs  and  the  luscious 
and  sustaining  meat,  with  a  roasted  tail  now 
and  again  as  a  side  bite. 

Now  penning  these  lines  in  my  last  camp  in 
a  town  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  how  my 
mind  longs  for  one  more  season  in  the  bush,  but, 
alas !  I  fear  it  may  never  be. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ANTICOSTA    AND    ITS    FURS. 

The  island  of  Anticosta,  lying  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  runs  parallel  with 
the  main  land  on  its  north  shore  and  about 
twenty-five  miles  distant  from  it.  Notwith- 
standing the  close  proximity  to  the  continent 
and  the  straits,  some  winters  blocked  with  ice 
fields,  the  martens  on  this  island  are  peculiar 
and  distinct  in  this  manner,  that  almost  with- 
out exception  the  forepaws  and  the  end  of  the 
tail  are  tipped  with  white  hair. 

I  traded  one  year  several  hundred  pelts  of 
Anticosta  marten  and  Avitli  one  or  two  excep- 
tions they  all  showed  this  distinction  from  those 
we  got  on  the  north  shore  or  mainland.  I 
found  this  white  ending  of  extremities  even 
amongst  the  bears  and  foxes,  and  in  some  in- 
stances with  the  otter.  Otherwise  the  marten 
are  as  well  furred  and  as  rich  and  deep  in  color 
as  the  far-famed  Labrador  ones. 

Of  bears  there  are  on  the  island  both  black 
and  brown;  the  latter  are  of  immense  size  and 
very  savage.     One  skin  I  got  measured  seven 

132 


ANTICOSTA  AND  ITS  FUE.  133 

feet  broad  by  nine  feet  long  and  showed  the 
marks  of  no  fewer  than  eleven  bullet  holes  in 
his  hide.  The  man  from  whom  I  purchased  the 
skin  told  me  he  met  the  monster  while  traveling 
along  the  sea  beach  and  fired  at  him.  The  bear 
dropped,  but  in  a  moment  arose  to  his  feet  and 
rushed  for  the  hunter.  Fortunately  there  was 
a  high  rock  near  by,  up  which  the  man  clamb- 
ered with  his  gun,  out  of  reach  of  the  infuriated 
beast  and  from  this  "Coin  de  advantage"  Ar- 
senault  loaded  and  fired  round  ounce  balls  into 
the  bear  until  he  was  dispatched. 

While  on  this  trip  I  secured  two  of  the  finest 
and  purest  silver  grey  fox  skins  I  ever  handled. 
It  is  not  generally  known  that  a  pure  silver  fox 
is  much  rarer  than  black  or  black  silver.  What 
I  mean  by  pure  silver  is  a  fox  that  is  silvered 
from  the  very  head  right  down  to  the  white  tip 
of  the  tail.  The  majority  of  so-called  silver 
foxes  are  black  from  the  head  to  a  third  of  the 
way  down  the  back;  a  part  of  the  body  and 
rump  alone  being  silvered. 

In  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  trading  posts, 
foxes  are  graded  when  purchased  under  the 
following  names :  black,  black  silver,  silver  grey, 
black  cross,  dark  cross,  ordinary  cross,  (first 
cousin  to  red)  bright  red,  light  red,  white.  I 
am  aware  that  to  make  this  list  complete  blue 


134  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

and  grey  foxes  are  wanting,  but  as  they  are 
only  traded  in  one  or  two  of  the  Company's 
posts  and  I  was  never  at  either,  I  will  say  noth- 
ing about  them,  but  of  the  above  grades  and 
colors  of  foxes  I  have  traded  and  trapped  many. 

A  black  cross  is  so  very  near  a  silver  that  it 
is  only  a  savant  that  can  tell  the  difference.  A 
black  cross  has  yellow  hairs  growing  inside  the 
ears  and  a  patch  of  yellow  near  each  fore  leg, 
whereas  a  silver  has  none.  Unscrupulous  trap- 
pers very  often  try  to  get  over  these  giving- 
away  marks  by  plucking  the  hairs  out  of  the 
ears  and  by  greasing  and  smoking  the  side 
patches. 

The  first  thing  a  trader  does  when  a  doubt- 
ful skin  is  offered  is  to  look  into  the  ears;  if 
the  hairs  are  wanting,  he  breathes  on  his  hand 
and  gently  passes  it  down  over  the  side.  If  the 
hand  is  blackened  this  is  a  proof  number  two 
and  the  smart  "Alec"  is  found  out. 

Coming  back  to  Anticosta;  forty  years  ago 
the  privilege  of  hunting  was  leased  by  the  then 
owner  of  the  seigniory  to  a  man  from  Quebec, 
who  each  autumn  repaired  to  the  island  with 
four  or  five  men  who  hunted  on  shares,  Mr.  Cor- 
bett,  supplying  food,  traps  and  ammunition,  got 
a  certain  per  cent,  of  the  furs  each  caught. 

They  laid  their  small  schooner  up  in  a  shel- 


ANTICOSTA  AND  ITS  FUE.  135 

tered  bay  and  Corbett  used  to  cook  and  sweep 
the  shanty  while  his  men  hunted  and  trapped. 

Wrecks  used  to  occur  nearly  every  year  of 
some  late  lumber-laden  sailing  vessel  and  in 
the  spring,  after  the  hunt  was  over,  Corbett  and 
his  men  would  load  their  schooner  with  copper 
and  iron  from  the  hulls  and  sail  for  Quebec  in 
June  when  the  moderate  summer  winds  had 
begun. 

Five  or  six  years  ago  M.  Menier,  the  French 
chocolate  king,  purchased  the  island  from  the 
Seignorial  heirs  and  has  converted  it  into  a 
game  reserve.  He  has  cut  road,  built  wharfs 
and  made  many  other  improvements  and  is  try- 
ing to  acclimate  animals  that  were  not  found 
on  the  island,  such  as  moose,  Virginia  red  deer, 
buffalo,  beaver,  etc. 

A  resident  governor  lives  on  the  island  the 
year  around  and  has  a  steamer  of  a  couple  of 
hundred  tons  at  his  command  that  plies  between 
the  island  and  Quebec,  as  necessity  requires.  M. 
Menier,  with  a  party  of  friends,  comes  from 
France  each  summer  and  passes  a  month  on 
the  island  fishing  and  shooting.  There  are  three 
salmon  rivers,  one  where  the  fish  are  especially 
large  and  numerous. 

After  purchasing  the  island  M.  Menier  se- 
cured from  the  Canadian  Government  the  right 


136  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

to  a  three-mile  belt  of  water,  so  when  the  owner 
is  on  "Antieosta"  he  is  actually  lord  and  master 

of  all  that  he  surveys. 

•         *         » 

In  the  Forest  and  Stream  of  Feb.  9  I  have 
read  the  article  written  by  H.  de  Puyjalon  on 
the  pekan  or  fisher.  Mr.  de  Puyjalon  appears 
to  me  to  have  attempted  writing  upon  a  subject 
in  which  he  was  very  little  versed  and  with  no 
data  upon  which  to  base  his  assertions.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  prior  to  about  the  year  1860,  the 
fisher  or  pekan  was  an  animal  unknown  to  the 
trappers  on  the  north  shore  and  Labrador,  east 
of  the  Saguenay,  and  it  was  only  after  that  year 
that  an  odd  one  was  trapped  in  that  lower  coun- 
try. In  fact,  when  first  the  fisher  made  its 
appearance  the  Indians  had  no  name  for  it,  but 
after  it  became  better  known  they  adopted  the 
Algonquin  name  it  now  bears.  When  an  Indian, 
in  the  early  sixties,  was  fortunate  enough  to 
have  one  in  his  pack  he  mentioned  it  as  a  big 
marten. 

For  many  years  the  Saguenay  River  ap- 
peared to  have  been  the  boundary  line  for 
moose,  red  deer  and  pekan,  none  being  known 
on  the  east  side,  while  fairly  numerous  on  tlie 
west  bank.  As  the  fisher  was  never  very  plenti- 
ful on  the  Labrador,  and  when  found  was  only 
in  the  wooded  part,  it  is  not  strange  that  a  per- 


ANTICOSTA  AND  ITS  FUR.   .  137 

son  of  Mr.  de  Puyjalon's  sedentary  habits  should 
have  trapped  only  two, 

I  lived  within  hearing  distance  (that  is,  cou- 
rier's reports)  of  Mr.  de  Puyjalon,  while  that 
gentleman  resided  on  the  coast,  and  apart  from 
hearing  that  he  set  a  fox  trap  or  two  about  his 
shanty,  never  heard  him  mentioned  as  what  we 
would  call  a  trapper. 

In  his  article  he  gives  the  pekan  the  credit 
of  showing  considerable  cunning  and  finesses. 
As  a  matter  of  natural  history  they  have  no 
more  of  this  than  a  marten,  and  will  bungle  into 
an  ordinarily  made  dead-fall  in  the  same  way. 
The  only  thing  to  do  when  fisher  are  known  to 
be  about  a  line  of  marten  traps  is  to  make  a 
larger  sized  house  for  him  and  extra  heavy 
weight  to  keep  him  down  when  caught. 

That  the  fisher  decreases  in  number  is  quite 
contrary  to  facts.  According  to  the  last  London 
sales  of  mixed  furs  in  September,  fisher  stood 
at  4,926,  in  1893  4,828,  and  in  1883  4,640,  show- 
ing that  they  have  increased  slightly.  In  some 
parts  of  the  country  they  stand  in  the  returns 
about  equal  to  the  marten  exported.  I  remem- 
ber this  very  plainly,  for  at  the  time  it  struck 
me  as  peculiar.  I  was  in  charge  of  an  out-post 
on  Lake  Superior.  Our  returns  were  princi- 
pally beaver,  foxes  and  lynx,  very  few  marten, 
and  in  that  year  I  had  at  the  close  of  trade  96 


138  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

marten  and  96  fisher.  This  was  impressed  on 
my  memory  as  being  a  strange  coincidence,  be- 
cause the  post  I  had  been  previously  stationed 
ett  turned  out  over  two  thousand  marten  to  eight 
or  ten  fisher.  The  prices  for  fisher  in  the  Cana- 
dian market  vary  but  little  and  we  never  have 
fluctuations  as  in  silver  foxes  and  marten.  The 
skins  are  little  used  in  any  country  except  Rus- 
sia and  China,  where  they  are  used  chiefly  by 
the  rich  as  coat  linings.  As  they  have  a  tough 
skin,  and  when  prime  a  deep,  rich  fur,  it  is  a 
wonder  —  since  they  are  comparatively  few  on 
the  market  —  that  they  do  not  command  a  bet- 
ter price. 

The  resort  of  the  pekan  is  principally  along 
the  mountain  ranges,  never  in  the  black  spruce 
or  flat  barren  country  of  the  table  land  or  to 
the  north  of  it.  Their  food  consists  of  rabbits, 
partridges,  mice,  squirrels  and  fruit  when  in 
season.  When  the  mountain  ash  berries  are 
plentiful  and  hang  late  in  the  autumn,  both  the 
fisher  and  the  marten  are  difficult,  if  not  impos- 
sible, to  trap,  as  there  is  no  meat  lure  you  can 
bait  with,  that  will  induce  them  to  leave  the 
berries. 

In  a  year  of  scarcity  of  fruits,  when  the 
fisher  has  to  depend  on  his  own  adroitness  in 
securing  his  food,  I  have  read  the  signs  and 


ANTICOSTA  AND  ITS   FUR.  iSS 

seen  where  one  has  been  very  persistent  in  run- 
ning down  a  rabbit,  the  chase  being  up  and 
down,  in  and  out,  until  bunny  was  overtaken, 
killed  and  eaten. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CHISELLING    AND    SHOOTING    BEAVER. 

It  is  only  in  the  far  back  country  that  the 
once  plentiful  beaver  are  to  be  found  at  the 
present  day,  and  though  a  description  of  one 
of  the  modes  the  Indians  adopt  in  killing  them 
may  be  of  no  practical  use  to  the  present  gen- 
eration of  hunters  on  the  fringe  of  civilization, 
it  will  at  least  be  interesting  to  them  and  re- 
membered by  some  old-timers.  Chiselling,  or 
trenching,  beaver,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is 
yet  followed  by  the  interior  Indians,  and  when 
conditions  are  favorable,  is  a  most  expeditious 
way  of  piling  up  a  whole  lodge. 

The  writer  in  his  young  days  has  many  a 
time  accompanied  the  Indians  on  these  hunts, 
and  the  description  of  my  last  participation  in 
this  exciting  mode  of  hunting  I  will  endeavor 
to  explain  to  the  reader.  I  found  a  large  lodge 
of  beaver  in  a  very  small  lake,  probably  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  long  by  one-eighth  wide.  It  was 
so  late  in  the  fall  that  it  was  too  near  freezing 
to  set  traps  in  open  water,  and  the  appearance 
of  the  shore  conveyed  to  my  experienced  eye 

140 


CHESELLING   AND    SHOOTING   BEAVER.        141 

that  it  could  be  chiselled  to  advantage.  I  there- 
fore returned  to  the  post  and  left  the  beaver 
undisturbed. 

It  was  fortunate  I  did  so,  for  the  follow  ing 
night  all  the  small  ponds  and  lakes  in  the  vicini- 
ty were  ice-bound  only  to  open  again  in  six 
months.  A  few  days  after  an  Indian  visited 
the  post  for  an  additional  supply  of  ammuni- 
tion and  snaring  twine,  and  I  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  enlist  his  services  to  kill  my  beaver. 
I  offered  him  two  pounds  of  tea  for  a  day's  work 
at  the  lake.  Whether  he  killed  the  beaver  or 
not,  he  was  sure  of  the  tea.  This  he  agreed  to, 
and  I  immediately  put  together  the  necessary 
things  so  as  to  make  an  early  start. 

As  the  lake  was  only  an  hour's  walk  from 
the  post  we  reached  it  about  sunrise,  and  both 
knowing  our  business,  set  to  work  at  once.  The 
implements  necessary  for  each  man  are  a  belt 
axe,  an  ordinary  socket  mortise  chisel  one  and 
a  quarter  inch  broad.  This  is  handled  (gener- 
ally at  the  lake)  with  a  peeled  spruce  sapling 
from  six  to  seven  feet  long,  and  last  but  by  no 
means  least,  is  a  good  beaver  dog,  and  almost 
any  Indian  dog  is  good  for  beaver,  as  they  learn 
from  the  older  ones  and  train  themselves.  I 
had  two  at  the  post  and  these,  of  course,  accom- 
panied us.  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  visit  the 
discharge  of  the  lake.    If  this  is  dammed  a  trap 


142  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

must  be  set  at  the  opening  where  the  water  es- 
capes. This  is  the  first  precaution,  so  that  if 
any  beaver  during  the  trenching  process  tries 
to  escape  down  the  creek  he  must  pass  over  the 
trap  and  get  caught. 

Where  the  water  of  the  lake  and  that  of  the 
creek  is  of  the  same  level  there  is  consequently 
no  dam,  and  then  the  creek,  at  its  narrowest 
part,  has  to  be  picketed  from  side  to  side.  This 
is  often  a  laborious  job,  as  pickets  have  to  be 
cut  and  carried  to  the  creek,  a  cut  three  or  four 
inches  wide  made  in  the  ice  and  then  the  pickets 
driven  down  side  by  side,  or  very  close  to  each 
other,  so  the  beaver  cannot  possibly  pass. 

This  work  done  to  our  satisfaction,  our  next 
point  was  the  lodge  itself.  This  we  broke  in 
from  the  top  and  all  the  sticks,  mud,  etc.,  we 
jammed  down  in  the  opening  or  exit.  This  is 
done  to  prevent  the  beaver  returning  once  they 
have  left  the  lodge.  At  several  places  around 
the  lake  the  beavers  have  what  the  Indian  call 
"washes."  These  are  burrows  they  make  be- 
neath the  surface,  generally  up  under  the  roots 
of  a  large  tree.  They  use  them  for  breathing 
places  and  to  retire  to  if  disturbed  at  the  lodge. 
They  make  these  at  any  favorable  spot  where 
the  conditions  are  suitable,  and  the  "washes" 
vary  in  number  from  three  to  five  up  to  twice 
that  number. 


CHESELLING   AND    SHOOTING   BEAVER.        143 

The  dog's  share  of  the  work  is  to  travel 
around  the  lake  and  scent  the  beaver  under 
the  frozen  bank.  He  is  trained  not  to  give 
tongue,  he  merely  points  and  sets  his  head  on 
one  side,  then  the  other.  Both  our  dogs  are 
now  pointing  and  we  hastened  over  to  the  spot. 
A  hole  is  ehisselled  in  the  ic€  close  to  shore  and 
a  crooked  stick  inserted.  This  stick  is  cut  at 
the  commencement  of  the  hunt,  is  about  seven 
feet  long,  and  has  a  natural  curve,  almost  as 
much  as  a  half  moon.  The  end  of  the  stick  is 
moved  about,  it  slips  up  under  the  bank;  this 
is  the  entrance  to  the  "wash."  We  cut  the  hole 
in  the  ice  larger  and  then  watch  the  water.  If 
the  beavers  (or  even  one)  are  up  in  the  bank 
there  is  a  perceptible  rise  and  fall  of  the  water 
at  the  opening.  We  then  set  to  work  to  fence 
in  the  entrance  to  the  "wash"  with  sticks.  This 
done,  the  ice  is  cut  away  inside  the  stakes,  a 
couple  of  feet  square. 

All  is  now  ready  for  the  test.  The  Indian 
bares  his  arm  up  to  the  arm  pit.  He  gets  down 
on  his  knees  over  the  hole  and  watches,  while  I 
go  up  a  few  feet  from  the  bank  and  drive  the 
chisel  into  the  ground.  This  disturbs  the  beaver 
and  he  makes  a  mad  drive  to  get  out  to  the  lake. 
The  pickets  bring  him  up,  and  while  he  is  turn- 
ing about,  puzzled  and  bewildered,  the  Indian 
dashes  his  arm  into  the  water  and  seizing  the 


144  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Deaver  by  the  hind  leg  gives  one  strong  pull 
and  lands  him  over  his  head.  The  fall  on  the 
ice  stuns  him  momentarily,  and  before  he  can 
escape  the  Indian  has  dealt  him  a  blow  with  the 
head  of  his  axe.  The  young  ones  are  generally 
the  first  killed,  as  two  or  three  may  be  together 
in  one  "wash."  The  old  ones,  as  a  rule,  give 
much  trouble,  as  they  vacate  one  "wash"  for 
another  at  the  approach  of  the  hunter.  Then 
there  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  picket  off  each 
"wash"  as  found,  and  thus  reduce  the  number 
of  places  for  him  to  resort  to. 

A  hunter  with  a  practiced  eye  can  tell  pretty 
well  by  the  appearance  of  the  shores  about  a 
beaver  lake  if  the  "washes"  are  few  in  number 
or  numerous  and  guides  himself  accordingly.  If 
the  lake  has  drained  a  foot  or  two  since  the  ice 
took,  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  chisel,  as  the 
beaver  can  go  ashore  under  the  ice  anywhere 
and  breathe.  In  our  case  all  circumstances  were 
favorable;  the  water  was  full  under  the  ice, 
all  over,  and  the  "washes"  were  very  few  and 
easily  located. 

By  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  had 
the  beavers  all  killed,  two  old  and  four  young 
ones.  We  really  had  five  by  dinner  time,  so  we 
lit  a  fire,  boiled  our  kettle  and  let  the  last  old 
one  quiet  down  a  bit  while  we  ate  our  lunch. 
We  got  him  at  last  in  the  last  "wash,"  and  I 


CHESELLING   AND    SHOOTING   BEAVER.         145 

suppose  knowing  this  was   his   last   stand   he 

would  not  attempt  to  leave  the  back  part  of  the 

hole  no  matter  how  much  I  poked  the  chisel  in 

about  him.     So  while  the  Indian  kept  a  close 

and  alert  watch  at  the  mouth  of  the  "wash,"  I 

made  a  large  opening  at  the  back  and  slipped 

in  one  of  the  dogs.     In  a  moment  beaver  and 

dog  were  both  out  at  the  entrance  fighting  in 

the   water.     The   beaver   fastened   his   terrible 

teeth  in  the  dog's  lip.     The  Indian  and  I  each 

managed  to  grasp  a  hind  leg,  a  long  pull  and  out 

came  beaver  and  dog  together.    We  had  to  force 

his  teeth  apart  after  killing  him  before  the  dog 

was  free. 

«        *        « 

I  mentioned  in  a  previous  article  that  I 
would  at  some  future  time  tell  of  i;he  part  a 
beaver-dam  enacts  in  the  successful  shooting  of 
the  beaver. 

As  I  said,  the  beaver  has  to  keep  a  jealous 
watch  on  the  dam  to  preserve  the  proper  height 
of  the  water  at  their  lodge.  They  make  nightly 
visits  to  see  all  is  well,  just  as  a  faithful  watch- 
man goes  his  rounds  of  the  factory  over  which 
he  has  charge. 

Any  sudden  falling  of  water  brings  the  bea- 
ver down  post  haste  to  the  dam  to  repair  the 
damage  or  leak.  Often  ah  otter  is  the  cause 
of  the  trouble,  as  they  sometimes  bore  a  pass- 

10 


146  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

age  way  under  the  discharge,  thereby  letting  out 
a  large  quantity  of  water  in  a  very  short  while. 

The  Indians,  knowing  this  careful  watchful- 
ness of  the  bearer,  use  it  to  his  destruction  by 
purposely  breaking  a  portion  of  the  dam  and 
hiding,  await  the  coming  of  the  little  builders, 
shooting  them  at  close  range. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  to  describe  one  of 
these  shootings,  in  which  I  took  part. 

One  of  the  principal  things  to  observe  ia  that 
the  wind  should  be  in  the  proper  direction,  i.  e., 
from  the  lodge  toward  the  dam.  A  day  coming 
when  the  condition  of  the  wind  was  favorable, 
we  set  off  with  our  double-barrel  guns,  a  tea 
kettle  and  some  grub,  and  reached  the  discharge 
about  3  P.  M. 

The  little  pond  was  brimming  full  with  the 
proper  quantity  of  water,  flowing  out  of  the  cut 
to  insure  a  regular  equality.  The  Indian  stu- 
died all  this,  looked  at  the  sun,  and  decided  it 
was  yet  too  early  to  cut  the  dam,  and  in  the 
meantime  we  fixed  a  nice  brush  cache  at  dif- 
ferent angles  to  the  dam,  wherein  we  were  to 
sit  and  watch.  About  four  o'clock  the  Indian 
hacked  away  at  the  discharge  with  a  small 
pointed  stick,  prying  several  holes  under  and 
about  it,  and  in  a  short  time  the  creek  below 
the  dam  became  a  highly  turbulent  stream,  and 
then  we  retired  to  our  bedded  places  and  waited. 


CHESELLING   AND   SHOOTING   BEAVER.        147 

I  might  mention  that  the  time  of  the  year 
was  about  the  tenth  of  October,  a  time  when 
beaver  are  quite  prime,  in  tliat  north  country. 

We  had  to  wait  possibly  an  hour  before  the 
first  beaver  made  his  appearance.  It  was  one 
of  the  parents,  and  judging  by  the  speed  at 
which  he  came  down  the  pond,  he  must  have 
been  of  turbine  construction.  One  thing  sure 
he  was  on  a  rush  message,  and  wanted  to  get 
there  quick.  I  saw  the  Indian's  gun  barrel  move 
slightly,  and  when  the  beaver  got  within  close 
distance  he  pulled  on  him,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  beaver  lay  awash  close  to  the  dam,  where 
he  was  allowed  to  remain. 

The  next  one  that  came  in  sight  was  a  young 
one,  and  came  my  way.  He  met  the  same  fate. 
The  slight  current  dragged  him  also  close  to 
the  dam,  a  few  feet  from  his  father  or  mother, 
as  the  case  might  be. 

This  double  bagging  was  hardly  over  when 
another  big  one  came  around  a  point  heading 
for  the  dam  as  the  others  had  done.  This  fellow 
proved  to  be  my  meat  also,  and  again  a  pause 
in  the  shooting. 

The  shadows  of  the  evening  were  fast  fall- 
ing and  we  had  almost  given  up  hopes  of  seeing 
any  others,  when  again  we  saw  a  far-off  ripple 
of  some  animal  swimming,  and  it  proved  to  be 
another  young  one.     This  one  took  down  the 


148  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

shore  nearest  to  the  Indian,  and  beat  the  water 
at  his  gun's  shot. 

The  sport  was  becoming  quite  exciting,  and 
I  would  have  had  no  objection  to  continuing  it 
longer,  but  the  Indian  arose  and  called  across 
to  me  to  gather  up  our  beaver,  having  a  large 
and  a  small  one  each,  a  very  fair  division. 

He  then  set  to  work  to  repair  the  damaged 
dam  as  well  as  he  could,  and  explained  to  me 
that  the  remaining  ones  would  finish  off  the  job 
w^hen  the  fear  was  off  of  them. 

The  Indian  said  that  amongst  his  tribe  the 
hunters  often  used  this  mode  of  hunting,  and 
what  beaver  w  as  left  unkilled  they  either  trapped 
later  on  or  trenched  them  out  w^hen  the  ice  set 
fast.  One  thing  I  learned  from  that  afternoon's 
hunt  was  that  it  was  simple  and  successful,  and 
I  used  the  knowledge  several  times,  in  other 
years,  to  my  advantage. 

We  had  to  i^ack  those  beaver  through  four 
miles  of  trackless  bush,  and  each  pack  must  have 
w^eighed  ninety  pound,  and,  as  far  as  I  remem- 
ber, we  rested  only  three  times.  I  mention  this 
because  I  saw  in  one  of  the  letters  that  appeared 
in  H-T-T,  where  a  man  mentions  having  killed  a 
beaver  that  weighed  fifty  pounds,  which  was  so 
heavy  he  had  to  drag  it  home. 

I  have  heard  of  dragging  a  deer  or  hair  seal, 
but  never  of  a  fur-bearing  animal.     I  wonder 


CHESELLING  AND   SHOOTING  BEAVER.        149 

what  that  man  would  have  thought  to  see  an 
Indian  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  pounds 
weight  carry  four  beaver  and  his  bark  canoe  on 
top,  over  a  three-quarter  mile  portage  without 
resting,  and  he  did  not  even  appear  winded  at 
the  end.  The  beaver  weighed  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds,  and 
the  bark  canoe  an  easy  sixty,  but  then  they  are 
inured  to  carrying  heavy  loads  from  childhood. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    INDIAN    DEVIL. 

My  companion  and  I  were  sitting  late  one 
afternoon  at  a  beaver  lake,  waiting  for  the  sun 
to  get  near  the  tree  tops  before  pushing  our 
canoe  into  the  lake  to  watch  for  beaver.  They 
generally  break  water  near  the  lodge  about  sun 
down  and  swim  along  shore  to  cut  their  food, 
and  one  has  usually  a  chance  of  a  shot. 

All  at  once  we  heard  back  in  the  bush  a 
cracking  and  breaking  of  branches,  readily  un- 
derstood as  done  by  a  large  animal  running 
through  the  underbrush  at  a  high  rate  of  speed. 
The  noises  came  nearer  and  nearer,  a  little  off 
to  our  right,  and  I  grasped  my  double-barreled 
gun  which  lay  beside  me  and  waited  events. 

A  few  moments  after  we  saw  a  large  caribou 
break  cover  about  one  hundred  yards  to  the 
right  and  spring  into  the  lake.  But  what  was 
that  black  object  clinging  to  his  neck?  Surely 
some  animal! 

The  caribou  struck  out  as  fast  as  it  could 
swim,  heading  for  the  further  shore,  and  we 
jumped  into  our  canoe  and  gave  pursuit.     The 

150 


THE  INDIAN  DEVIL.  151 

keen  eyes  of  the  animal  on  the  caribou's  neck 
haying  detected  us,  it  relinquished  its  hold, 
dropped  off  into  the  water  and  turned  for  the 
shore  the  caribou  had  left. 

The  canoe  was  immediately  headed  to  cut 
off  his  retreat,  and  when  within  proper  distance 
I  shot  it  with  one  barrel  and  left  it  there  dead 
on  the  surface  of  the  lake,  while  we  continued 
on  our  chase. 

This  diversion  had  taken  our  attention  from 
the  caribou,  but  now,  when  we  had  resumed  the 
chase,  we  found  the  animal  was  getting  through 
the  water  very  slowly,  and  as  we  were  paddling 
in  its  wake,  we  perceived  the  water  at  each  side 
of  the  canoe  was  bloody.  By  the  time  we 
reached  the  caribou  it  was  dead. 

On  examination  we  found  the  jugular  vein 
had  been  cut  by  the  fierce  animal  on  its  back, 
and  it  had  bled  to  death,  fleeing  with  what 
strength  it  had  to  the  last  drop  of  the  poor 
thing's  blood. 

We  threw  a  string  over  its  horns  and  towed 
it  back  to  the  portage,  picking  up  in  passing  our 
floating  black  animal,  which  proved  to  be  a  very 
large  wolverine,  carcajo  or  Indian  devil,  the 
beast  going  under  all  of  these  names  with  hunt- 
ers and  traders. 

The  carcajo,  when  he  loads  for  deer,  goes 
down  to  one  of  their  runways,  or  on  a  road  lead- 


152  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ing  to  a  salt  lick.  He  climbs  a  tree  and  gets 
out  on  some  branch  overhanging  the  track. 
Here  he  flattens  himself  out  and  waits.  Yes,  he 
is  a  record  waiter.  He  can  give  points  to  even 
the  girl  who  is  waiting  and  watching. 

Time  is  no  object  to  him;  his  inwards  may 
be  shriveling  up  for  want  of  food,  but  there  he  re- 
mains. Once  he  has  taken  up  that  position  noth- 
ing but  a  deer  will  make  him  show  the  least  sign 
of  life.  He  is  to  all  intents  a  part  of  the  tree 
limb,  and  the  knowledge  that  all  things  "come 
to  him  who  waits"  is  strongly  fixed  in  his  devil 
brain. 

The  deer  passes,  he  drops  on  to  him  like  a 
rock.  Should  he  strike  too  far  back,  his  cruel 
claws  grip  his  way  up  toward  the  neck,  and 
there  he  settles  himself,  a  fixture,  and  cuts  away 
at  the  large  veins  till  the  poor  deer  bleeds  to 
death. 

As  soon  as  the  deer  feels  this  foreign  weight 
on  his  back  the  cruel  teeth  cutting  into  him,  he 
at  once  runs  into  and  through  the  thickest  part 
of  the  forest  trying  to  rub  the  incubus  off  his 
back.  But  the  carcajo  has  the  tenacity  of  the 
bulldog,  and  his  own  skin  would  be  ripped  and 
lacerated  before  he  would  let  go  his  hold. 

The  deer,  realizing  this  mad  rush  through 
the  bush  is  useless,  makes  for  the  nearest  water 
in  the  hope  that  this  will  rid  him  of  his  enemy. 


THE  INDIAN   DEVIL.  153 

But  vain  hope,  the  wolverine  is  there  to  stop, 
and  only  opens  his  jaws  when  the  deer  is  dead, 
or,  as  in  my  instance,  through  fear  for  his  per- 
sonal safety. 

Our  beaver  hunt  was  spoilt  for  that  night, 
so  we  moved  back  on  the  trail  and  camped. 
There  we  passed   our   time   drying   the   deer's 

meat  and  skinning  the  Indian  devil. 

«         «         * 

The  amount  of  destructiveness  contained  in 
a  full  grov\'n  wolverine,  or,  as  he  is  sometimes 
called,  carcajo  and  Indian  devil,  is  something 
past  belief  to  any  one  who  has  not  lived  in  the 
country  in  which  they  resort.  The  tales  told  by 
hunters  and  lumbermen  of  the  doings  of  this 
strong  and  able  beast  would  fill  pages.  Some  of 
these,  like  fish  stories,  may  be  seasoned  by  a 
pinch  of  salt,  therefore  I  will  only  jot  down  a 
few  that  I  experienced  personally  in  my  trap- 
ping days. 

Hunger  cannot  always  be  adduced  as  a  rea- 
son for  their  thieving  propensities,  inasmuch  as 
tbey  will  steal  martens,  rabbits  and  partridges 
out  of  traps  and  snares  when  they  are  full  to 
repletion  just  out  of  pure  cussedness,  as  it  were, 
to  make  the  owner  of  the  traps  and  snares  to  use 
unseeming  language. 

When  once  a  wolverine  gets  on  a  line  of 
deadfalls  the  trapper  has  either  to  abandon  his 


154  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

traps  and  seek  new  fields,  or  kill  the  mischiev- 
ous animal,  for  even  should  the  line  be  ten  miles 
long  the  Indian  Devil  will  destroy  or  put  out  of 
order  each  trap  to  the  very  end.  Their  favor- 
ite plan  is  to  tear  out  the  back  of  the  trap.  If 
they  find  a  marten  caught  and  they  are  not  hun- 
gry, they  will  carry  it  off  at  right  angles  to  the 
trail  and  bury  it  in  the  snow,  or  climb  a  tree 
and  deposit  it  on  a  cross  branch.  I  have  found 
no  fewer  than  three  martens  when  visiting  my 
trap  road  a  day  after  the  wolverine  had  passed. 

Once  when  chum  and  I  were  off  for  a  couple 
of  nights  from  our  main  camp,  on  our  return  we 
missed  a  toboggan  from  in  front  of  the  shanty 
door.  This  was  passing  strange  as  no  Indians 
were  in  the  vicinity,  nor  had  passed  our  way. 
Hunt  as  we  did  in  every  conceivable  place  did 
not  produce  the  missing  sled.  It  was  only  two 
years  after  when  camping  in  the  same  place  and 
felling  a  dry  spruce  for  firewood  that  the  to- 
boggan and  tree  came  to  earth  together.  The 
mystery  was  solved,  a  wolverine  had  drawn  it 
up  in  the  top  branches  of  the  tree  and  left  it. 

I  remember  a  laughable  occurrence  that  took 
place  once.  Chum  and  I  had  a  small  log  shanty 
on  the  edge  of  a  big  lake.  This  was  our  head- 
quarters. Eadiating  from  the  shanty  we  had 
lines  of  traps  to  the  four  points  of  the  compass 
and  we  often  slept  out  a  night,  visiting  and 


THE  INDIAN   DEVIL.  155 

cleaning  out  the  traps.  Each  used  to  take  a 
line  end,  each  slep  for  that  night  solitary  in  the 
wilds. 

On  our  return  from  one  of  our  trips  we  met 
on  the  edge  of  the  clearing  and  when  we  got  to 
our  shanty  we  noticed  things  looked  strange  and 
yet  we  could  not  tell -for  a  moment  what  it  was. 
On  opening  the  door  things  looked  stranger 
still,  for  on  the  floor  was  a  mixture  of  mostly  all 
our  belongings,  flour,  matches,  moccasins,  to- 
bacco, soap  and  numerous  other  things  and 
sifted  over  all  was  ashes. 

One  would  think  a  hurricane  had  come  down 
the  chimney  and  blown  everything  loose,  but  we 
knew  better.  Some  animal  must  have  done  this 
devastation  and  we  could  call  that  animal  by 
his  right  name  by  reading  his  work.  Yes,  a 
wolverine  had  been  there  and  we  fell  to  calling 
him  some  appropriate  names  and  as  we  went 
along,  we  invented  other  names  which  our  cuss 
vocabulary  did  not  possess. 

During  a  momentary  lull  in  our  burst  of 
passion,  we  heard  a  slight  scratching  under  the 
table  and  there  we  found  the  Avorker  o±  all  the 
mischief.  A  blow  of  the  axe  finished  him  then 
and  there  and  he  was  pulled  out  into  the  light. 
Our  surprise  was  great  to  find  most  of  the  hair 
on  his  head  singed  off  and  he  was  blind  in  both 


156  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

eyes.  Then  we  set  to  work  to  read  the  signs 
how  it  happened. 

We  found  by  our  deduction  that  in  the  first 
place  he  had  clambored  up  on  to  the  roof  and 
from  there  had  entered  by  the  wide  mouthed 
chimney.  Once  in  the  shanty  he  had  set  to 
work  to  examine  and  investigate  everytliing 
about,  each  in  turn  to  be  cast  from  him  on  the 
floor. 

The  very  last  thing  to  attract  his  attention 
was  my  chum'^  powder  horn.  It  was  one  of 
those  old-fashioned  cow  horns  with  a  plug  in  the 
small  end.  There  was  at  the  time  nearly  half 
a  pound  of  gun  powder  in  it.  With  this  bright 
and  shining  article  "carajou"  started  to  clambor 
up  and  out  thru  the  chimney. 

Alas!  he  held  the  butt  end  upwards.  By 
dryness,  I  sui>pose,  the  plug  dropped  out  and  a 
fine  stream  of  powder  found  its  way  to  the  cen- 
ter of  our  fireplace  where  a  few  coals  must  have 
yet  kept  fire.  A  flame  shot  up,  an  explosion 
followed,  and  down  came  the  frightened,  blinded 
beast.  No  doubt  from  agony  and  fear  he 
crawled  under  the  table  where  we  found  him 
and  put  an  end  to  his  misery. 

Their  legs  are  very  strong  and  muscuclar 
and  I  have  known  them  to  break  out  of  even  a 
No.  4  Newhouse.  When  they  will  take  bait  a 
pretty  sure  way  to  get  them  is  by  "setting  a 


THE  INDIAN   DEVIL.  157 

gun,"  but  this  is  dangerous  work  as  some 
stranger  might  pass  that  way,  and  even  to  the 
person  setting  the  gun,  great  care  must  be  used. 
As  they  are  very  seldom  famished  and  there- 
fore will  not  take  bait,  about  the  only  thing  for 
the  trapper  to  do  is  to  give  him  the  "right  of 
way,"  and  the  hunter  to  move  to  some  other 
part  of  the  country  for  a  month  or  so.  We  call 
them  the  Indian  Devil  because  he  inhabits  the 
Indian  country,  but  the  Indians  themselves  call 
them  "Bad  Dog,"  this  being  the  lowest  and 
meanest  name  their  language  supplies. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A    TAME    SEAL. 

Many  years  ago,  before  the  great  River  Moi- 
sie  was  resorted  to  by  cod  fishermen  and  others, 
the  harbor  seals  used  to  come  up  the  stream 
in  great  numbers  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
forth  their  young  in  its  quiet  upper  pools.  After 
staying  with  their  young  for  a  couple  of  weeks, 
the  mother  ^als  would  return  down  the  river, 
and  a  few  days  later  the  little  baby  seals  would 
drift  down  with  the  current  and  be  carried  out 
to  sea,  there  to  hunt  and  grow  big,  and  in  their 
turn  become  father  and  mother  seals  and  visit 
their  native  river. 

Many  a  calm  evening  I  have  stood  on  the 
gallery  outside  the  house  and  listened  to  the 
infant-like  cry  of  the  poor  little  seals  as  they 
drifted  on  the  river  past  the  post.  One  evening, 
toward  the  end  of  "the  run"  we  heard  one  cry- 
ing in  a  most  pitiful  and  heart-rending  way. 
Every  now  and  then  we  could  see  the  snow-white 
mite  as  he  floated  on  the  surface  near  mid- 
stream. 

I  got  a  large  salmon  scoop  and  joined  the 
man  on  the  beach.    We  waited  till  the  seal  had 

158 


A   TAME    SEAL.  159 

floated  past  us,  then  quietly  pushed  out  the 
boat.  The  man  headed  obliquely  down  stream 
to  come  up  with  the  baby  from  behind,  while  I 
took  a  position  in  the  bow,  ready  to  land  it  in 
the  boat.  In  a  few  minutes  Ave  were  up  to  him. 
The  poor  little  deserted  fellow  was  pawing  about 
in  the  water  much  after  the  manner  of  a  blind 
puppy  and  uttering  plaintiff  cries,  startlingly 
like  a  real  baby.  I  skipped  the  scoop  well  under 
him,  and  in  a  moment  he  was  safely  landed  in 
the  bottom  of  the  boat. 

I  fixed  up  an  extemporary  feeding  bottle, 
made  of  a  piece  of  rubber  tubing,  a  cork  and  an 
empty  soda  water  bottle,  which  we  filled  with 
some  nice  warm  milk.  We  got  him  comfortable 
on  a  sheepskin  alongside  the  kitchen  stove,  and 
with  a  little  instruction  he  very  soon  knew  how 
to  work  his  end  of  the  tube.  The  warmth  of 
the  stove  and  the  bottle  of  milk  very  quickly 
sent  him  into  sweet  forgetfulness. 

My  first  intention  was  to  keep  him  only  a 
few  days,  until  he  got  a  little  larger  and 
stronger,  and  then  let  him  continue  his  journey 
to  the  sea.  But  the  little  fellow  became  such 
a  pet  and  evidenth^  liked  his  surroundings  so 
well  that  it  would  have  been  heartless  in  the 
extreme  to  send  him  away ;  so  Jack,  as  the  cook 
christened  him,  became  one  of  the  family,  and 
grew  and  waxed  strong,  and  followed  me  about 


160  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

between  the  buildings  with  his  flopping  gait  in 
a  most  ridiculous  manner. 

In  September,  numbers  of  fine  sea  trout  used 
to  come  in  the  river  each  tide  and  go  out  with 
the  ebb.  We  placed  a  stand  of  old  useless  sal- 
mon nets  near  the  last  sand  point  to  create  a 
back-water,  from  which  to  fly-fish.  Jack  used 
to  accompany  me  on  these  fishing  tours,  and  he 
very  soon  came  to  understand  what  my  whip- 
ping the  water  was  for. 

One  day  he  wabbled  down  to  the  very  edge 
of  the  river,  gazed  up  and  down  and  across  the 
water,  and  the  next  instant  dived  in,  with  a 
greasy,  sliding  motion.  The  waters  closed  over 
him,  and  I  paused  in  my  pastime  to  see  what 
would  happen  next.  I  looked  about  in  all  direc- 
tions for  Jack,  but  not  a  ripple  disturbed  the 
placid  waters.  He  could  not  have  been  meshed 
in  the  folds  of  the  net,  because  I  would  have 
seen  the  floats  vibrate.  So  I  stood  there  pon- 
dering, my  thoughts  partly  perplexed  and  partly 
sorrowful  for  the  possible  loss  of  our  pet. 

All  at  once  I  heard  heavy  breathing  almost 
at  my  feet,  and  looking  down,  there  was  Jack 
with  a  fine  3^  lb.  sea  trout  crossways  in  his 
mouth,  which,  on  my  calling  his  name,  he  depos- 
ited at  my  feet.  Then  you  may  be  sure  I  petted 
the  dear  young  fellow,  and  he  seemed  to  under- 
stand that  what  he  had  done  was  appreciated 


A  TAME    SEAL.  161 

by  liis  master,  for  after  rolling  himself  for  a 
few  moments  on  the  sand  he  made  another  dive, 
and  another,  and  another,  always  with  the  same 
successful  results,  and  the  best  part  of  his  fish- 
ing was  that  he  only  selected  the  largest  and 
fattest  fish.  We  went  home,  both  very  proud 
in  our  OAvn  way — Jack  for  having  been  made  so 
much  of,  and  I  because  of  the  useful  accomplish- 
ment of  my  pet. 

As  long  as  the  run  of  fish  continued,  Jack 
and  I  used  to  resort  each  day  to  the  eddy.  He 
brought  the  fish  ashore  and  I  put  them  in  the 
basket.  What  we  could  not  consume-  at  the 
house,  the  cook  salted  for  winter  use.  Yes,  the 
winter  was  coming  on,  and  the  thought  occurred 
to  me  several  times  what  we  would  do  with 
Jack.  Jack,  however,  made  no  attempt  to  take 
his  freedom  and  forsake  us.  On  the  contrary, 
he  manifested  greater  affection  for  us  all,  and, 
as  the  days  became  shorter  and  the  nights 
colder  and  longer  in  that  northern  latitude,  he 
used  to  sleep  for  many  hours  on  a  stretch,  hud- 
dled up  with  the  dogs  in  the  kitchen,  only  going 
out  of  doors  for  an  occasional  slide  in  the  snow 
once  or  twice  during  the  course  of  each  day. 

Even  the  long  winter  of  the  North  comes 
to  an  end  in  time,  and  once  again  we  had  open 
water;  the  last-bound  river  was  again  free  from 

11 


162  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ice,  and  Jack  used  to  take  long  swims,  but  he 
always  came  back.  Finally  the  run  of  salmon 
struck  the  river,  and  I  took  Jack  down  to  the 
bight  of  the  sandbars  to  fly  him  at  bigger  game 
than  the  trout.  He  made  one  or  two  dives  and 
came  ashore  empty-mouthed.  He  saw  there 
were  no  caresses  for  Jack,  so  he  tried  again. 

This  time  his  efforts  were  crowned  with  suc- 
cess, for  he  landed  with  a  12  lb.  salmon  strug- 
gling in  his  strong  jaws.  He  received  my  pat- 
ing  and  expressions  of  satisfaction  with  un- 
bounded joy  and  seemed  to  know  he  had  done 
something  to  be  proud  of,  for  he  ambled  up  the 
sandbank  and  slid  down  to  the  water  several 
times  in  rapid  succession. 

Soon  it  was  the  season  for  the  seals  to  enter 
the  river  as  in  past  years,  and  the  Indians  were 
shooting  them  from  their  canoes  whenever  they 
had  a  chance.  Juck  used  to  go  so  far  afield  now, 
probably  trying  to  find  the  mother  that  had  so 
shamefully  deserted  him  last  year,  that  we 
feared  he  might  be -shot  by  the  Indians  by  mis- 
take ;  so  we  tied  a  piece  of  blue  worsted  garter- 
ing about  his  neck  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
other  seals.  But  alas  for  the  poor  Knight  of 
the  Garter.  One  day  Jack  was  out  among  the 
other  seals  off  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  in 
some  way  the  blue  garter  must  have  been  de- 
tached from  his  neck,  for  an  Indian  shot  him. 


A  TAME    SEAL.  163 

The  man  brought  him  ashore  and  told  us 
of  the  mishap.  As  soon  as  he  handled  him  to 
put  him  in  the  canoe,  he  knew  at  once  from  the 
roughness  of  his  coat  it  was  poor  Jack.  And 
thus  ended  our  intelligent  and  useful  pet. 

We  buried  him  near  the  flagstaff  and  put 
up  a  board  bearing  the  inscription  "Jack." 


Seeing  a  small  shark  brought  ashore  the 
other  day  by  one  of  the  salmon  fishermen,  who 
had  found  it  rolled  up  in  his  net,  put  me 
in  mind  of  an  exciting  adventure^  I  had 
many  years  ago.  Both  at  the  east,  as  well 
as  the  west  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  great 
River  Moisie,  sand  banks  run  out  to  sea 
for  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles.  These  are 
covered  at  high  tide,  but  being  of  almost  a  uni- 
form height,  the  falling  tide  runs  off  of  them 
in  a  very  short  space  of  time,  and  leaves  them 
dry  with  the  exception  of  some  odd  places  where 
pools  of  water  remain.  The  banks  are  dry  the 
last  two  hours  of  the  ebb  and  the  first  two  hours 
of  the  flood  tide. 

The  great  river  continually  deposits  on  these 
sands  such  quantities  of  vegetable  matter,  that 
they  are  a  resort  for  many  kinds  of  small  fishes ; 
and  numerous  waterfowl  come  there  at  certain 
stages  of  the  tide  to  feed  on  the  fish. 


164  ■     CANADIAN  WILDS. 

I  was  only  about  eighteen  at  the  time,  and 
had  gone  out  in  a  birch-bark  canoe  to  shoot 
ducks  on  the  banks.  My  companion,  an  Indian 
boy,  even  younger  than  myself  in  years,  but  sev- 
eral times  older  in  experience,  was  to  steer  the 
canoe.  The  last  words  his  father  said  to  us 
before  leaving,  were,  "Don't  go  too  far  out,  or 
the  ^Ma-thcie-ne-mak'  will  cut  your  canoe  and 
eat  you." 

The  sea  that  morning  was  as  calm  as  a  pond, 
and  perfectly  glassy  from  the  strong  INIay  sun 
striking  straight  down  on  it.  We  had  been  out 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  had  had  pretty  fair 
luck  with  sea-ducks  and  loons,  and  were  just 
about  starting  for  the  shore  before  the  tide  left 
us  dry  on  the  banks.  If  such  a  thing  had  hap- 
pened, it  would  have  entailed  on  us  the  labor 
of  carrying  our  canoe  a  mile  or  so  to  the  beach, 
over  soft  yielding  sand. 

"We  better  go,"  the  boy  was  saying  when  his 
words  were  cut  short  in  his  mouth.  With  the 
remains  of  that  breath  he  screeched  "Ma-tchie- 
ne-mak!"  and  started  to  paddle  like  one  pos- 
sessed. I  admit  that  his  fright  was  infectious, 
and  coupled  with  the  dread  name  of  shark,  it 
so  quickened  my  stroke,  that  Hanlon's  sixty-a- 
minute  were  very  slow  compared  to  the  way  I 
worked  my  paddle.  I  have  read,  and  heard 
from  old  whalesmen,  that  as  long  as  one  kept  the 


A  TAME   SEAL.  165 

water  churned  up,  there  was  no  danger  of  the 
shark  getting  in  his  work.  Twice  the  boy  called 
out,  "There  he  is!"  Once  I  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  monster  a  few  yards  off  on  our  port  beam, 
heading  to  the  shore  also,  but  evidently  watch- 
ing for  a  chance  to  attack  us. 

The  tide  was  now  running  out,  and  conse- 
quently the  more  we  neared  the  shore,  the 
shoaler  the  water  got.  The  shark  had  not 
stopped  to  consider  this  in  his  mad  rush  to 
catch  us.  At  last  our  canoe  grounded  on  the 
sands  and  we  looked  back  with  relief  at  our  nar- 
row escape.  But,  ah!  what  is  that  about  a  cou- 
ple of  acres  astern,  surely  not  the  shark!  But 
it  was,  and.  he  was  floundering  about  in  shal- 
low water,  in  one  of  the  pools,  and  every  min- 
ute the  water  was  getting  less.  "Hoop-la !  we  will 
now  hunt  the  shark,"  I  said  to  little  Moses,  as 
I  started  off  toward  him  over  the  now  dry  sands. 

Yes,  there  he  was,  the  great,  ugly  beast,  flop- 
ping about  in  a  basin  surrounded  by  banks,  out 
of  which  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  escape. 
From  the  shore  the  boy's  father  and  one  of  my 
men  saw  what  was  going  on  and  came  out  with 
a  handful  of  bullets  and  their  guns.  In  the 
meantime  I  was  employing  the  time  with  good 
results,  by  pouring  into  the  shark  charge  after 
charge  of  AAA  shot  at  close  range. 

By  the  time  the  men  reached  us  the  fish  was 


166  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

pretty  sick,  and  apart  from  snapping  his  im- 
mense jaws,  was  lying  perfectly  still.  The  first 
bullet  from  a  distance  of  ten  feet  put  an  end 
to  him.  When  the  tide  came  in  again  we  towed 
him  into  the  river  and  cut  him  up  and  salted 
the  chunks  in  barrels  to  feed  the  dogs  the  next 
winter.  From  the  liver  we  rendered  out  three 
gallons  of  oil  as  clear  as  water.  This  of  itself 
was  of  value  to  us  the  next  winter  in  our  lamps, 
it  gave  a  clear  light  and  emitted  no  smoke. 
Those  were  the  days  before  coal  oil  came  into 
general  use.  Our  only  lights  at  the  post  were 
home-made  tallow  candles,  or  a  cotton  rag  from 
a  tin  spout  fed  by  seal-oil.  This,  combined  with 
the  burning  rag,  gave  off  a  heavy,  dense,  black 
smoke,  which  was,  if  not  injurious,  very  un- 
pleasant to  inhale  during  the  long  winter  even- 
ings. The  shark-oil  being  so  much  superior,  I 
kept  it  for  my  own  private  lamps,  and  the  teeth 
ornamented  the  mantlepiece. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  CARE  OF  BLISTERED  FEET. 

Much  suffering  and  discomfort  are  experi- 
enced by  the  novice  on  snowshoe  tramps  by  the 
want  of  knowledge  as  to  how  to  care  for  and 
protect  the  feet  from  blistering. 

The  toes  are  the  parts  that  suffer  most  from 
the  friction  of  the  cross  snowshoe  strings  that 
are  continually  see-sawing  the  front  part  of  the 
moccasin,  and  many,  from  an  erroneous  idea  of 
cause  and  effect,  pile  on  extra  socks,  thinking 
thereby  to  prevent  the  blistering  by  the  thick- 
ness of  their  foot  padding. 

During  my  first  years  in  the  Hudson  Bay 
service  I  suffered  like  any  other  new  "hitter"  of 
the  long  trail,  but  once  started  on  the  tramp 
there  was  no  giving  in.  Places  being  hundreds 
of  miles  apart,  there  were  no  houses  nor  any 
place  to  stop  and  say,  "I  can  go  no  further." 
On  a  journey  of  seven,  eight  or  ten  days,  we  took 
probably  one  day's  extra  provisions,  but  no 
more,  therefore  be  the  back  lame  through  the 
heavy  bundle  it  had  to  support  day  after  day, 
or  our  every  toe  blistered  to  the  bone,  walk  on 

167 


168  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

we  must  and  did.  I  have  often  seen  the  blood 
appear  on  my  moccasins,  working  its  way 
through  three  or  four  pairs  of  socks  and  become 
so  dried  and  caked  that  before  the  shoes  could 
be  removed  at  the  night's  camp-fire,  warm  wa- 
ter had  to  be  poured  freely  upon  the  moccasin 
to  release  the  foot. 

The  agony  at  such  times  was  past  explain- 
ing. It  was  quite  a  work  to  patch  up  each  sep- 
arate toe  with  balsam  gum  and  rag  before  turn- 
ing in  for  the  night,  and  yet  stiff,  swollen  and 
sore,  these  poor  feet  had  to  have  the  large  heavy 
snowshoes  suspended  to  them  next  morning  and 
the  weary  tramp  continued  as  on  the  previous 
day. 

Our  guides,  the  Indians,  did  not  suffer,  as 
their  feet  were  hardened  from  childhood,  and  as 
an  Indian  never  gives  advice  nor  offers  to  re- 
lieve his  companion's  load  without  being  asked, 
we,  the  unfortunate  greenhorns,  were  compelled 
to  trudge  on  in  the  wake  of  our  pace-maker  as 
well  as  we  could. 

Of  course  I  tried  by  all  manner  of  changes 
in  footwear  to  alleviate  the  trouble  by  taking 
off  some  thickness  of  socks  and  by  putting  on 
extra  ones,  all  to  no  avail.  Trip  after  trip,  and 
year  after  year,  I  suffered  with  cut  toes  and 
blistered  feet.  By  good  fortune,  I  think  it  was 
my  fifth  year  in  the  country,  I  was  ordered  from 


THE   CARE   OF   BLISTERED   FEET.  l60 

St.  Lawrence  posts  to  meet  a  winter  packet 
party  from  Hudson's  Bay.  A  certain  lake  on 
the  divide  was  arranged  for  in  the  autumn  as 
the  meeting  place  of  the  two  parties.  The 
packeters  from  Hudson's  Bay  were  to  leave  on 
the  3d  of  January  and  had  a  journey  ahead  of 
them  of  325  miles.  My  party,  two  Indians  and 
self,  left  on  the  6th  of  January,  having  55  miles 
less  to  travel,  or  270  miles.  Our  day's  tramps 
were  so  similar  in  length  that  we  arrived  at  the 
rendezvous  within  four  hours  of  each  other. 

One  of  the  party  from  the  bay  was  a  Scotch 
half-breed,  and  from  him,  for  the  first  time,  I 
learned  the  art  of  caring  properly  for  the  feet. 
He  made  me  cast  aside  all  my  woolen  knitted 
socks,  and  out  of  his  abundance  he  supplied  me 
with  smoked  fawn-skin  socks,  ankle  high,  made 
in  the  fashion  of  a  moccasin,  only  with  no  tops 
or  welts  of  seams.  The  top  and  bottom  pieces 
of  leather  were  herring-boned  together,  a  slit 
was  made  in  the  top  half  to  insert  the  foot  and 
this  was  put  on  the  bare  foot.  On  top  of  this 
two  other  shoe  socks,  made  of  duffle  or  blanket- 
ing, were  placed  and  the  moose  skin  moccasin 
over  all,  the  leather  top  of  which  was  tied  about 
the  naked  ankle. 

I  ventured  to  opine  that  I  would  possibly  be 
cold  there,  or  freeze,  but  my  new  friend  told 
me  the  object  was  to  keep  the  feet  from  over 


170  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

heating.     "And  this  and  the  knitted  socks  is  the 
cause  of  all  your  suffering." 

"Now  listen  to  me,"  he  went  on;  "at  every 
noon  day  fire,  or  in  fact  any  time  a  lengthened 
halt  is  called,  sit  on  the  brush  before  the  fire 
and  take  off  both  moccasins  and  all  your  socks, 
turn  them  inside  out  and  beat  them  on  a  stick 
or  the  brush  to  take  out  all  the  creases  the  feet 
have  made.  Let  them  cool  wrong  side  out  and 
while  this  is  taking  place,  have  your  feet  also 
cooling.  Let  them  become  thoroughly  cold  be- 
fore replacing  your  socks  and  shoes  and  when 
doing  this  put  those  that  were  on  the  right  foot 
on  to  the  left,  and  vice  versa.  This  affords  a 
wonderful  relief  to  the  tired  feet  and  you  re- 
sume the  journey  with  a  rested  feeling.  At 
night,  after  the  last  pipe  is  smoked  and  you  are 
about  turning  in  to  get  what  sleep  you  can  with 
no  roof  to  cover  you  but  the  far-off  heavens, 
then  turn  up  your  pants  to  the  knee  and  jump, 
bare- footed  and  bare-legged  into  the  nearby 
snow  and  stand  in  it  until  you  can  bear  it  no 
longer,  then  stand  near  the  blazing  camp-fire 
and  with  a  coarse  towel,  or  bag,  rub  the  legs  and 
feet  well  until  the  blood  is  tingling,  and  the 
color  of  your  lower  extremities  resembles  a 
boiled  lobster,  and  my  word  for  it,  you  will  rest 
better,  sleep  sounder  and  arise  refreshed  — 
what  you  never  enjoyed  before." 


THE  CAEE  OF  BLISTERED  FEET.  171 

Fitted  out  as  I  was  and  following  his  advice 
of  the  snow  bath,  I  niade  the  return  journey 
with  ease  and  pleasure.  I  made  long  tramps  for 
twenty  years  following  and  never  again  was  I 
troubled  by  either  blisters  or  cut  feet.  Even 
making  short  trips  about  the  post  hunting,  I 
never  allowed  a  knitted  sock  near  my  feet. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

DEER-SICKNESS. 

The  Indian  term  "deer-sickness"  is  in  reality 
a  misnomer,  as  it  is  not  the  deer  that  is  sick  but 
the  party  following  its  tracks.  The  idea  of 
writing  this  article  came  to  me  by  reading 
"Scent  Glands  of  the  Deer,"  which  appeared  in 
Forest  and  Stream  of  May  13,  and  I  remem- 
bered how  I  had  the  deer-sickness  thirty-eight 
years  ago. 

There  are  many  surprises  for  a  tenderfoot  or 
greenhorn  in  the  wild,  but  the  name  given  to 
one  of  these  very-much-to-be-pitied  parties  in 
the  bush  country  from  the  Labrador  to  Lake  Su- 
perior is  mangers  du  lard.  This  is  the  universal 
cognomen  by  which  a  stranger  in  the  north 
country  is  known.  I  found  by  tracing  back  that 
this  soubriquet  was  first  given  by  the  French 
courriers  dii  hois  to  a  new  hand  entering  the 
back  country  for  the  first  time. 

It  is  said  that  in  those  early  days  the  French 
youths,  from  which  new  hands  were  recruited, 
lived  at  home  op  very  scanty  food,  and  when 
they  got  away  working  for  the  fur  company, 

172 


DEER-SICKNESS.  173 

where  pork  was,  comparatively,  in  abundance, 
they  let  their  young  appetites  loose  and  ate  thq 
flesh  of  swine  in  prodigious  quantities,  whereby 
they  became  known  as  mangers  du  hud,  i.  e., 
pork  eaters,  and  this  denoted  a  stranger  or 
greenhorn,  the  tenderfoot  of  the  Western  prai- 
rie. 

I  was  somewhat  of  a  greenhorn  myself  and 
suffered  thereby  by  catching  the  deer-sickness. 
Like  a  good  many  other  bad  knocks  that  a  be- 
ginner has  to  endure,  this  bit  of  sickness  had 
an  abiding  effect  on  me  and  was  never  repeated. 

My  experience  came  about  in  this  wise.  I 
had  accompanied  a  family  of  Indians  £o  a  deer 
battue,  and  after  the  general  slaughter  was  over 
I  was  allotted  the  duty  of  following  up  a 
wounded  deer ;  by  the  word  deer  I  mean  a  wood 
caribou. 

This  particular  buck  had  been  shot  at  close 
quarters,  the  ball  going  clear  through  its  stom- 
ach. While  the  shot  had  the  effect  of  bowling 
the  deer  over  it  had  not  touched  a  vital  spot, 
and  during  the  excitement  of  the  other  shoot- 
ing the  animal  got  up  and  traveled  away  unob- 
served. The  snow  was  pretty  deep,  neverthe- 
less the  further  the  deer  went  the  better  he  ap- 
peared to  get  along.  When  this  fact  became 
evident  to  me,  who  was  following  his  track,  lit- 
erally with  my  nose  to  the  snow,  I  put  on  a 


174  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

greater  spurt  to  try  and  end  the  jig.  The  deer 
by  this  time  had  become  cognizant  of  being  fol- 
lowed and  he  also  increased  his  pace. 

I  now  became  aware  of  a  weakness  in  my 
limbs,  a  nauseating  smell  in  my  nostrils  and  a 
faint  and  giddy  sensation  in  my  head.  This 
uncomfortable  feeling  grew  worse,  and  at  last 
to  save  myself  from  falling  I  had  to  lean  against 
a  tree  and  wipe  my  brow  with  a  handful  of  snow. 

This  had  a  momentary  good  effect.  I  saw 
clearly  once  more  and  pushing  ahead  redoubled 
my  efforts  to  come  within  shooting  distance  of 
my  deer.  But  I  had  not  gone  far  before  I  felt  a 
relapse  coming  and  in  a  few  moments  I  was  in 
worse  distress  than  ever.  The  last  I  remember 
was  seeing  a  whirl  of  trees  going  around  me.  It 
was  the  last  conscious  moment  before  I  fainted 
dead  away  and  fell  in  my  tracks  in  the  J^now. 

Luckily  the  chief  had  sent  his  two  boys  to 
follow  me  up,  not  that  he  anticipated  this  end- 
ing, but  for  the  purpose  of  skinning  and  cutting 
up  the  deer.  It  was  providential  he  did,  for 
otherwise  I  would  never  have  awakened  in  this 
world.  As  it  was,  the  cold  had  thoroughly  pene- 
trated my  body  and  it  was  only  after  drinking 
a  quart  or  two  of  hot  tea  that  circulation  re- 
sumed its  functions. 

After  I  had  come  around  to  the  youth's  sat- 
isfaction the  eldest  one  started  off  after  the 


DEER-SICKNESS.  175 

cause  of  all  my  trouble,  leaving  his  younger 
brother  to  replenish  the  fire  and  attend  to  my 
wants.  The  elder  boy  returned  after  an  hour 
or  two,  having  killed  the  deer,  the  proof,  the 
split  heart  tucked  in  his  belt.  Darkness  was 
then  setting  in,  but  the  boys  made  ready  to 
start  for  camp.  What  had  taken  me  hours  of 
toil  to  cover,  they  passed  over  in  a  very  short 
time;  in  fact,  we  only  saw  my  trail  once  or 
twice  on  the  way  out  to  the  lake. 

That  night,  after  supper  the  chief  told  me  of 
the  '"deer-sickness,"  and  warned  me  against  per- 
sistently following  the  trail.  He  continued  and 
told  how  the  Indians  did  and  in  after  years  I 
saw  their  mode  and  practiced  it  myself.  He  ex- 
plained to  be  that  a  pungent  odor  exuded  from 
the  deer's  hoofs  when  they  were  pursued  and 
it  was  this  that  caused  my  weakness  and  dis- 
tress. 

The  Indians  in  following  deer  cut  the  trail 
once  in  a  while  merely  to  make  sure  they  are 
going  in  the  right  direction  and  to  ascertain  the 
freshness  of  the  tracks.  This  is  done  with  a  two- 
fold purpose,  first  to  avoid  the  odor  from  the 
fresh  tracks  and  secondly  to  run  or  walk  in  the 
most  open  parts  of  the  forest.  Moose,  caribou, 
and  deer  when  fleeing  from  an  enemy  invariably 
pass  through  the  thickest  bush,  because  the 
snow  is  shallower  under  thick,  branchy  trees 


176  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

than  in  the  open,  therefore  the  Indian  walks 
a  spell  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  trail,  then 
crosses  over  and  passes  on  the  left. 

From  the  topography  of  the  country  the 
Indian  has  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  trend  of  the 
caribou's  course,  and  the  cutting  of  the  trail 
from  time  to  time  is  only  to  assure  himself  that 
he  is  correct  in  his  surmise,  and  to  judge  by  the 
tracks  how  near  he  is  to  the  quarry.  He  there- 
by passes  through  the  clearest  country,  has  the 
best  walking  and  escapes  the  nauseous  effluvia 
emitted  from  the  animals'  hoofs. 


It  falls  to  us  who  live  in  the  country  the  year 
round  to  hear  amusing  stories  from  the  guides 
of  their  experiences  with  the  "tenderfeet"  that 
visit  the  north  country  during  the  open  season. 
One  that  showed  the  cuteness  of  the  guide  was 
told  me  shortly  ago  by  the  man  himself. 

Dr.  S came  to  Roberval  with  the  ex- 
pressed wish  of  taking  home  a  caribou  head  of 
his  own  killing.  He  engaged  George  Skene  as 
man  of  all  work,  and  Old  Bazil,  the  noted  guide 
and  successful  hunter. 

Although  it  is  not  customary  for  guides  to 
take  their  guns  when  out  with  gentleman  sports- 
men, yet  Old  Bazil  was  an  exception,  as  he  al- 
ways insisted  on  taking  his.    Around  the  camp- 


DEER-SICKNESS.  177 

fire  Dr.  S spoke  of  his  great  wish  to  kill  a 

caribou. 

"Now,"  he  said  to  old  Bazil,  "You  bring  me 
up  close  to  one  and  I  kill  it,  I'll  give  you  a  bonus 
of  |10." 

Several  times  next  day  during  the  still-hunt 
old  Bazil  would  leave  the  doctor  to  await  his 
return,  while  he  would  go  forward  reconnoiter- 
ing  carefully  so  there  might  be  no  mistake.  At 
last  he  came  back  with  the  glad  tidings  to  the 
doctor,  that  he  had  seen  two  caribou  not  far  in 
advance  of  where  they  now  were. 

When  it  got  to  sneaking  after  BaZ|il  through 
the  last  hundred  yards  to  the  few  trees  at  the 
extreme  edge  of  the  forest,  the  doctor's  heart 
was  beating  with  such  thumps  that  he  thought 
the  noise  would  start  the  game.  The  doctor  at 
last  reached  the  guide  in  the  fringe  of  trees. 
Bazil  told  him  that  one  of  the  deer  was  stand- 
ing up,  broadside  on,  while  a  little  to  the  right 
was  the  second  one  lying  down.  The  standing 
one  being  the  larger  of  the  two,  and  the  only  one 
having  horns,  was  for  the  doctor  to  shoot,  while 
the  guide  would  take  a  pot-shot  at  the  other. 
The  doctor  flattened  out  on  his  stomach  and 
wriggled  a  few  feet  further,  saw  the  deer 
through  the  branches,  took  aim  and  waited  for 
Bazil  to  count  the  agreed  one,  two,  three. 

12 


178  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

Bazil  argued  with  himself  that  from  the  un- 
certain way  the  doctor's  gun  was  wabbling  about 
there  were  several  hundred  chances  to  one 
against  his  hitting  the  deer,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence, he  would  be  minus  his  bonus. 

So  he  employed  a  ruse.  He  counted  the 
agreed  signal  to  fire,  but  instead  of  firing  at 
the  one  13'ing  down,  he  drew  a  bead  on  the  doc- 
tor's, and,  of  course,  killed  it. 

At  the  report  of  the  guns  the  caribou  on 
the  ground  sprang  up,  and  old  Bazil,  with  con- 
summate prevarication,  said,  "Oh I  I  missed  it!" 
Aimed  again,  let  go  the  other  barrel,  and  killed 
this  one  also. 

The  doctor  was  wild  with  delight  at  his  suc- 
cessful first  shot,  and  expressed  in  many  words 
his  pleasure  to  old  Bazil,  who  took  it  all  in 
without  a  blush. 

The  old  guide,  who  was  standing  up  back  of 
where  the  doctor  fired,  had  taken  no  chance  of 
missing  with  his  smooth  bore,  but  fired  point 
blank  at  the  deer's  fore  quarters.  There  was 
found  on  examination  a  frightful  wound,  and 
smashed  bone;  but  the  doctor  was  not  versed 
enough  in  woodcraft  to  distinguish  if  this  had 
been  caused  by  a  round  bullet,  and  not  the  con- 
ical one  from  his  own  rifle. 

The  doctor  was  not  a  pot-hunter;  he  had 
what  he  came  for,  and  had  got  it  in  almost  rec- 


DEER-SICKNESS.  179 

ord  time,  and  was  satisfied,  so  he  fished  for 
brook  trout  while  Bazil  carefully  prepared  the 
head  for  transportation  and  dried  the  meat  for 
his  own  family.  Then  they  journeyed  back  to 
Roberval,  where  the  men  were  paid  off,  Bazil 
receiving  a  bright  flO  gold  piece  as  promised 
over  and  above  his  wages. 

The  doctor  no  doubt  has  that  head,  beauti- 
fully gotten  up,  hanging  over  his  sideboard,  and 
points  to  it  with  pride  to  his  guests,  saying,  "I 
killed  that  head  back  of  Kis-ki-sink,  in  Canada." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A  CASE  OF   NERVE. 

In  the  far  interior  where  flour  is  scarce  and 
our  living  consists  of  either  fish  or  flesh,  both 
of  which  we  have  to  get  when  we  can  and  how 
we  can,  the  game  laws  are  a  dead  letter.  Nets 
were  always  in  the  water  the  year  round  and  no 
one  moved  from  the  posts  without  a  gun.  Fish 
and  potatoes  were  our  staple  diet  and  were  it 
not  for  the  abundance  of  the  former  we  could 
never  have  lived  in  the  country.  Lakes  were  all 
about  us  and  when  one  was  fished  out  we  moved 
our  nets  to  another. 

Flesh,  however,  could  not  always  be  got,  and 
when  the  chance  offered  we  killed,  in  season  or 
out.  Nothing,  however,  was  wasted.  Should 
we  shoot  a  deer  or  moose  in  summer,  the  sur- 
plus over  what  we  could  consume  in  a  day  or 
two  was  either  jerked  and  dried  or  salted. 
Many  a  time  have  my  men  had  to  visit  our  nets 
a  mile  or  two  off  to  get  wherewith  for  our  break- 
fast. If  successful  the  fish  had  then  to  be 
cleaned  and  cooked  before  we  broke  our  fast. 
Such  being  our  hard  battle  for  life  I  may  be  ex- 
cused for  the  following  story : 

180 


A  CASE  OP  NERVE.  181 

An  Indian  came  in  late  one  afternoon  from 
his  hunting  grounds  at  the  south  to  get  his 
spring  ammunition.  It  was  about  the  middle 
of  April  and  there  was  at  the  time  a  hard  crust 
on  the  snow.  He  told  us  that  on  the  way  he  had 
seen  cuttings  of  a  very  big  bull  moose  and  he 
was  sure  he  was  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  near 
by  where  he  had  noticed  the  cuttings.  He  had  no 
gun  and  besides  the  moose  was  useless  to  him  so 
far  from  his  camp  being  four  or  five  miles  from 
our  post.  Now  he  continued  if  you  want  to 
have  him  you  can  come  along  with  me  in  the 
morning  and  you  will  surely  kill  him.  /  He  can't 
get  away  with  the  crust.  The  Indian  was  so 
sure  of  our  success  that  he  told  me  to  take  my 
two  men  with  sleds  to  bring  home  the  meat  and 
hide. 

As  it  was  all  ice  walking  except  one  short 
portage  to  the  foot  of  the  range  of  mountains 
he  named,  we  decided  to  leave  the  post  an  hour 
or  so  before  daylight  so  as  to  be  there  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment.  Our  preparations 
were  soon  made  and  we  took  a  little  sleep 
dressed  as  we  were  and  then  started.  We  took 
two  little  partridge  curs  to  head  off  the  moose 
and  keep  him  amused  until  I  could  catch  uj) 
and  shoot. 

The  hunt  was  going  to  be  such  a  dead  sure 
result  that  mine  was  the  gun  in  the  party.     It 


182  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

was  a  smooth  bore  H.  B.  and  carried  bullets  28 
to  the  pound.  We  had  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  bite 
of  galette  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  and  left 
our  sleds  there  together  with  the  Indian's  bun- 
dle of  ammunition,  tea,  tobacco,  etc.,  he  had 
traded  at  the  post.  My  men  each  carried  one  of 
the  dogs  in  a  bag  to  let  go  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment. As  the  Indian  proposed  in  the  first  place 
to  still  hunt  the  bull,  he  reasoned  that  it  being 
yet  so  early  perhaps  I  would  get  a  shot  when  he 
jumped  up  from  his  bed  of  the  night. 

We  had  to  wear  snow  shoes  in  the  green 
bush  as  the  crust  was  not  sufficiently^  strong  to 
support  a  man  without  them.  We  whipped 
strips  of  old  rags  about  the  frames  to  deaden  the 
noise  when  walking  on  the  hard  snow.  The  In- 
dian led  off  putting  down  each  foot  with  the  ut- 
most care  and  I  followed  gun  in  hand  the  men 
being  told  to  keep  an  acre  or  two  behind  us. 
The  ascent  was  gradual  and  pretty  free  from  un- 
dergrowth. We  were  getting  near  the  summit 
when  all  at  once  the  Indian  called  out,  "he's 
off."  After  the  stillness  of  our  procedure  these 
words  were  quite  startling.  The  men  heard  him 
and  hurried  forward  to  uS.  The  dogs  were 
emptied  out,  they  caught  the  tainted  air  in  a  mo- 
ment and  away  they  ran. 

This  was  the  first  time  I  knew  of  an  Indian's 
acute  sense  of  smell,  and  after,  when  I  came  to 


A  CASE  OF  NERVE.  183 

consider  it,  could  not  think  otherwise  than  that 
it  was  wonderful.  From  the  place  where  we 
stood  when  he  said,  "The  moose  is  away,"  was 
fully  two  acres  to  his  lair,  so  it  was  impossible 
he  could  have  seen  or  heard  him  go.  In  fact, 
he  told  me  he  smelt  him  when  he  sprang  up. 
This  I  disbelieved  at  the  time,  but  in  after  years 
had  many  instances  that  could  not  be  doubted. 
Already  the  dogs  were  giving  tongue  down  the 
descent  on  the  other  side  and  as  they  were  bark- 
ing apparently  in  the  same  place  the  moose  was 
said  to  be  at  a  standstill.  The  face  of  the  moun- 
tain on  the  other  side  was  wooded  with  a  young 
growth  of  trees,  in  some  places  growing  in  thick- 
ets or  clusters. 

The  Indian  and  the  men  followed  me  down 
hill  and  I  approached  the  place  where  I  heard 
the  dogs,  gun  in  hand.  The  dogs  were,  by  the 
sound  of  their  barking,  running  in  on  him  and 
taking  a  nip  at  each  run.  After  careful  peer- 
ing into  the  clump  of  trees  I  thought  I  made  out 
his  fore  quarter  and  fired.  The  moose  simply 
sat  down  and  elevated  his  head  until  his  neck 
appeared  as  long  as  that  of  a  giraffe.  I  thought 
this  was  the  forerunner  of  his  tumbling  over 
dead.  This,  however,  was  not  the  case,  for  the 
next  minute  he  broke  cover  and  charged  straight 
for  where  I  was  standing,  a  distance  of  only  a 
few  yards.     My  companions  turned  and  fled  and 


184  CANADIAN  WILbS. 

I  looked  around  for  a  suitable  tree  to  dodge  be- 
hind, but  none  was  near.  My  left  barrel  was 
yet  loaded  and  I  realized  my  very  life  depended 
on  my  coolness  and  accurate  shooting. 

It  takes  considerable  more  time  to  write  this 
down  than  the  event  itself  took,  I  planted  myself 
firmly  on  my  snowshoes  and  waited  the  proper 
moment.  All  fear  had  passed  and  I  fully  real- 
ized it  was  death  to  me  if  I  missed  my  shot. 
On  he  came  his  great  eyes  blazing  green  in  his 
anger  and  the  coarse  hairs  on  his  neck  and 
shoulders  standing  up  like  quills.  In  a  case  of 
strong  tension  on  the  nerve  like  myself  at  that 
time  moments  appear  hours.  He  was  in  the  act 
of  making  his  last  spring  before  reaching  me 
when  I  took  a  snap  sight  along  the  barrel  and 
fired  fair  in  the  forehead.  I  had  just  time  to 
step  to  one  side  when  he  fell  dead  right  in  my 
old  tracks.  Death  had  been  so  instantaneous 
that  he  was  so  to  speak  "killed  on  the  fly."  We 
skinned  and  cut  up  the  meat  and  were  back  at 
the  post  before  the  midday  thaw  set  in.  It  was 
only  that  night  when  I  looked  at  the  adventure 
from  all  points  of  view  that  I  fully  saw  the  great 
danger  I  had  run. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

AMPHIBIOUS  COMBATS. 

Very  few  of  the  present  generation  of  hunt- 
ers, I  presume,  have  ever  witnessed  a  fight  be- 
tween a  beaver  and  an  otter.  I  venture  to  think 
that  the  narrative  of  such  an  event  will  prove 
interesting  to  readers  of  Hunter-Trader-Trap- 
per^  especially  as  it  comes  first  hand  from  the 
person  who  saw  the  fight  from  the  start,  and  was 
in  at  the  finish.  It  was  an  unique  spectacle  of 
once  in  thirty-five  years  of  bush  life. 

I  must  digress  a  little  at  the  start  to  explain 
that  otters  often,  in  the  autumn,  endeavor  to 
find  some  tenantless  beaver  lodge  situated  on  a 
chain  of  small  lakes.  If  fortunate  to  find  such, 
they  at  once  pre-empt  the  old  lodge  and  make 
it  their  home  and  headquarters.  If  the  fish  sup- 
ply is  ample  in  the  lakes  and  small  connecting 
creeks,  they  stay  there  until  the  snow  hardens, 
and  openings  occur  in  the  large  rivers  and  then 
slide  away  to  new  fields,  or  rather,  waterways. 
This  migration  is  generally  about  the  20th  of 
March  in  our  Northern  Country. 

One  day  in  the  latter  part  of  October  I  port- 

185 


186  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

aged  my  bark  canoe  over  the  divide  into  an- 
other chain  of  lakes,  with  the  object  of  ascer- 
taining if  there  were  any  beaver  in  that  section. 
I  came  out  to  the  shore  of  the  lower  lake  of 
the  string,  in  a  small  grassy  bay,  and  was  just  in 
the  act  of  taking  the  canoe  off  my  head,  when 
out  in  the  bay,  an  acre  or  two  from  shore,  I  saw 
a  beaver  swimming  on  the  surface  at  a  high  rate 
of  speed.  Being  yet  early  in  the  afternoon  I 
wondered  at  this  and  waited,  with  the  canoe 
still  tilted  on  my  shoulders.  All  at  once  a  long, 
shiny,  snaky  looking  animal  broke  water  in  the 
wake  of  the  beaver  and  a  short  distance  behind 
the  latter,  evidently  in  pursuit. 

The  beaver  was  no  sooner  aware  of  this  than 
he  appeared  actually  to  stand  half  out  of  the 
water,  the  next  instant  he  turned  and  faced  his 
pursuer.  The  distance  between  the  two  was  so 
short  that  in  a  moment  they  were  fast  to  each 
other's  throat  and  then  for  some  minutes  neither 
could  be  seen  for  the  churning  and  splashing  of 
the  water.  I  took  the  opportunity  while  they 
were  thus  engaged  to  unload  my  canoe  and  slip 
it  half  way  into  the  lake  ready  to  embark. 

After  the  first  fierce  fighting  impact  and 
deadly  grip,  when  they  appeared  pretty  well  ex- 
hausted —  the  fight  going  on  at  times  on  the  sur- 
face —  and  again  both  would  disappear  beneath 
the  waters  of  the  lake,  still  locked  together  with 


AMPHIBIOUS  COMBATS.   •  187 

the  tenacity  of  bulldogs.  Then  they  rose  to  the 
top,  this  time  separated,  and  at  some  little  dis- 
tance apart,  both  plainly  much  spent.  Then  they 
circled  about  one  another,  much  in  the  same 
way  as  two  boxers  sparring.  Again  a  mad  rush 
at  each  other,  and  again  the  strong  jaws  of  his 
opponent,  and  the  same  scene  was  enacted 
again.  I  thought  it  was  about  time  to  push  out 
and  take  a  closer  aspect  of  affairs.  The  fight 
was  interesting,  but  the  chance  of  getting  a 
beaver  and  an  otter,  with  one  shot,  far  sur- 
passed the  proverbial,  "two  birds  with  one 
stone." 

What  little  breath  of  wind  that  ruffled  the 
bay  was  in  my  favor,  so  with  both  barrels  of 
my  gun  cocked  leaning  against  the  canoe  bar,  I 
sculled  the  birch  silently  but  swiftly  thru  the 
water  unnoticed  by  the  combatants.  When  just 
about  to  take  my  gun,  "the  moment  too  late" 
occurred  right  then,  and  they  separated  as  by 
mutual  consent;  the  beaver  swimming  toward 
the  shore  and  the  otter  pawing  the  water  in  a 
blind,  dazed  sort  of  a  way.  The  latter  being  the 
nearer  to  the  canoe  and  the  most  valuable  of  the 
two,  I  fired  and  killed  him.  On  the  flash  and 
report  of  the  gun,  the  beaver  dived  and  I  pushed 
the  canoe  in  his  direction,  with  the  other  barrel 
ready  when  he  should  come  up.  I  had  over- 
shot the  place  when  he  had  disappeared  and 


1S8  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

waited  looking  toward  the  shore,  where  I  ex- 
pected he  would  next  come  to  view.  Minutes 
passed  and  no  sign,  I  turned  about  in  the  canoe 
thinking  possibly  he  had  doubled  under.  Not 
ten  feet  from  the  stern  of  the  canoe,  there  was 
Mr.  Beaver,  dead  without  my  firing  a  shot, 
dead  from  his  wounds.  I  pulled  him  into  the 
canoe  and  paddled  back  and  picked  up  the  otter. 

After  getting  ashore  and  examining  them 
both  carefully  and  again  when  skinning  them, 
I  found  the  beaver  had  died  of  his  terrible 
wounds  and  no  doubt  the  otter  was  in  the  last 
throes  of  his  life  also,  when  I  gave  him  his  quit- 
tance. The  hair  and  skin  on  their  bellies  were 
much  scratched  and  cut  up  by  the  sharp,  hard 
claws  of  their  hind  feet.  Their  necks  were  one 
mass  of  teeth  marks,  and  the  jugular  veins  in 
each  were  pierced.  Both  would  have  died  of 
their  wounds  in  a  little  while,  without  the  use 
of  the  gun,  had  I  withheld  my  fire  for  a  few 
minutes,  for  they  were  fast  bleeding  to  death. 

I  ascertained  afterwards  that  this  beaver 
had  been  the  only  one  in  the  lake;  the  otter  no 
doubt  had  driven  him  out  of  his  house,  and  not 
content  with  this  had  pursued  him,  courting 
battle.  In  the  fight  that  ensued,  of  which  I  had 
been  a  witness,  both  had  met  their  death. 
«         *         ♦ 

The  sight  I  witnessed  some  years  ago  is  so 


AMPHIBIOUS  COMBATS.      .  189 

unique  that  I  think  it  will  prove  interesting  to 
the  readers  of  Forest  and  Stream. 

I  was  at  the  time  stationed  right  in  the 
moose  country,  having  for  its  center  the  great 
Kipewa  Lake.  One  day  toward  the  end  of  No- 
vember, when,  as  yet  only  the  bays  of  the  big 
lake  were  frozen,  I  started  to  visit  some  mink 
traps  in  my  canoe,  accompanied  by  a  small  little 
rat  of  a  dog.  It  was  still  open  water  in  the 
body  of  the  lake,  but  as  I  have  said,  the  bays 
were  frozen  a  couple  of  inches  thick.  There  is 
a  long  point  of  land  jutting  into  the*  lake.  Open 
water  washed  the  beach  on  my  side  of  this ;  but 
on  the  other  side  was  a  frozen  bay.  I  landed 
about  the  middle  of  the  point  to  fix  up  a  mink 
trap.  The  little  dog  ran  up  into  the  timber,  and 
a  minute  or  two  after  I  heard  him  giving  tongue 
in  a  savage  manner  for  so  small  a  beast,  and  I 
knew  he  must  have  started  up  something  extra- 
ordinary, possibly  a  bear,  I  ran  down  to  the  ca- 
noe for  my  gun,  and  started  off  in  the  direction 
of  the  barking,  which  by  that  time  was  becom- 
ing more  remote.  Pushing  on,  I  came  out  to  the 
shore  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  point.  Here  I 
witnessed  a  sight  never  before  nor  after  seen  by 
me  during  a  residence  of  over  thirty  years  in 
the  wilds  of  Canada. 

A  large  cow  moose  was  slipping  about  on 
the  glare  ice  trying  to  make  her  way  to  the  other 


190  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

side  of  the  bay.  I  was  so  spellbound  for  a  few 
moments  that  I  let  the  opportunity  pass  to 
shoot.  The  ice  was  so  glare  that  it  was  with  dif- 
ficulty the  large  animal  could  make  headway  at 
all. 

My  little  dog  had  now  come  up  with  her,  and 
very  pluckily  nipped  her  heels.  The  huge  beast 
tried  to  turn  in  her  headway  to  face  the  cur. 
In  doing  so,  her  four  feet  all  slipped  at  once  from 
under  her,  and  her  great  weight  coming  down 
so  suddenly  on  the  thin  ice  caused  it  to  break 
in  fragments,  and  the  moose  was  in  the  water. 

To  get  out  of  that  hole  with  no  bottom  to 
spring  from  was  more  than  that  moose,  or  any 
other,  could  do,  but  the  poor  beast  did  not  real- 
ize this,  and  continued  swimming  around,  and 
every  now  and  again  getting  its  front  hoofs  on 
the  slippery  edge,  only  to  fall  backward  again 
into  the  icy  waters. 

The  dog  followed  it  about  the  opening,  bark- 
ing continually,  but  the  moose  had  more  press- 
ing business  than  to  bother  with  a  small  dog.  I 
saw  that  the  creature  would  never  succeed  in 
extracting  itself,  and  tliought  to  end  its  misery. 
From  where  I  stood  the  distance  from  the  shore 
was  about  two  hundred  yards.  I  therefore 
started  to  load  my  gun  (it  was  before  the  days 
of  breechloaders),  but  when  I  got  to  the  final 


AMPHIBIOUS  COMBATS.  191 

of  putting  on  the  percussion  cap,  there  was 
none. 

Although  I  was  positively  sure  the  moose 
would  be  frozen  stiff  in  that  hole  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  fascination  of  the  sight  kept  me  stand- 
ing there  on  the  rocks  watching  her  struggles. 

I  must  have  stood  there  for  two  full  hours, 
as  the  sun  of  the  short  November  day  began  to 
get  near  the  treetops,  and  a  cold,  cutting  north 
wind  began  to  blow. 

The  poor  moose  was  now  swimming  about 
very  slowly,  and  at  times  turning  up  gn  her  side. 
This  told  me  the  end  was  not  far  off. 

The  last  look  I  gave  she  had  part  of  her  head 
resting  on  the  ice,  and  her  body  was  floating 
on  its  side.  Then  I  recrossed  the  point  and 
paddled  home  as  fast  as  I  could. 

Next  morning  we  got  a  large  canoe  out  of 
winter  quarters,  and  with  my  two  men  we  pad- 
dled back  to  the  point,  supplied  with  ropes  and 
axes.  The  night  had  been  a  cold  one,  and  had 
increased  the  thickness  of  the  ice  sufiflcient  for 
us  to  walk  upon.  We  cut  a  couple  of  long  pines, 
or  levers,  and  went  out  to  the  hole.  The  head 
was  frozen  just  in  the  position  I  had  last  seen  it, 
and  this  kept  the  body  from  sinking.  Our  first 
precaution  was  to  chop  the  ice  away  about  the 
carcass  and  get  ropes  about  it.     Then  we  got 


192  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

another  around  the  neck  and  chopped  the  head 
clear. 

We  dropped  it  as  it  was  to  the  shore,  and 
there  cut  it  up  in  quarters.  All  of  the  breast, 
neck  and  front  legs  were  quite  useless,  being  a 
mass  of  conjected  blood  and  bruised  flesh, 
caused  by  the  moose's  contact  with  the  ice. 
These  condemned  parts,  however,  were  not  al- 
together useless,  because  I  used  them  to  bait 
my  traps.  Besides  the  eatable  part  of  the  meat, 
I  got  twenty  pairs  of  shoes  out  of  the  hide. 


Just  after  the  above  account  of  the  very  un- 
usual occurrence  was  received,  a  press  dispatch 
telling  of  a  somewhat  similar  happening  ap- 
peared in  the  New  York  newspapers.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  accidents  of  one  sort  and  another 
are  responsible  for  the  death  of  large  game  much 
more  frequently  than  we  imagine.  It  is  certain 
also  that  among  the  young  of  such  animals  there 
is  a  considerable  mortality,  although  we  do  not 
know  that  any  observations  on  this  subject  have 
been  recorded.  Every  man  who  has  hunted 
much,  however,  has  probably  seen  something  of 
this,  and  we  should  be  glad  to  record  any  such 
experiences  of  this  sort  which  our  readers  have 
had.  We  ourselves  have  not  infrequently  found 
young  deer  and  antelope  that  had  evidently  died 


AMPHIBIOUS  COMBATS.  193 

from  diseases,  and  more  seldom  have  seen  young 
elk,  and  on  two  occasions,  young  mountain 
sheep,  dead,  for  whose  taking  off  there  seemed 
to  be  no  reason  to  be  advanced  except  sickness. 
It  is  well  known  that  on  the  fur  seal  islands  of 
the  North  Pacific  and  the  Bering  Sea,  thous- 
ands of  pups  die  annually  from  disease,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  vastly  greater  number  which  star\e 
to  death  through  the  killing  of  the  mothers  by 
pelagic  sealing. 

The  Sun  account  above  referred  to  reads  as 
follows :  , 

Captains  Wisner,  Verity  and  Ira  Udall,  who 
have  been  across  the  bay  to  Fire  Island  beach, 
arrived  here  to-day.  They  say  that  two  deer,  one 
a  fine  large  six  year-old  buck  and  the  other  a 
doe,  had  walked  out  on  the  ice  and  had  broken 
through.  They  had  been  unable  to  get  back  to 
the  mainland  and  were  carried  with  the  cur- 
rent. They  drifted  across  the  bay  a  distance  of 
nearly  ten  miles  and  were  being  taken  out  into 
the  ocean  when  seen  by  Captains  Udall  and 
Verity  from  the  State  wharf  east  of  the  light- 
house. 

The  two  men  put  off  in  a  lifeboat  and  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  the  buck  ashore.  The  doe 
was  almost  dead  by  that  time.  Every  effort  was 
made  to  get  her  ashore  and  save  her  life.     A 

13 


194  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

rope  was  fastened  around  her  body  and  she  was 
soon  on  shore,  although  after  no  little  effort. 
She  soon,  however,  died  of  exhaustion.  The 
buck  ran  off  east  on  the  beach,  but  unless  its 
instinct  is  strong  enough  to  teach  it  to  follow 
the  beast  east  to  the  mainland,  seventy  miles 
distant,  it  will  soon  starve,  as  the  sand  hills  and 
meadows  are  now  bare  of  vegetation. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

ART  OF  PULLING  HEARTS. 

I  see  by  inquiries  answered  and  letters  from 
F.  Edgar  Brown  in  an  issue  of  Hunter-Trader- 
Trapper  that  my  casual  mention  of  pulling  the 
heart  of  the  fox  in  "Reynard  Outwitted,"  has 
struck  a  chord  of  interest  with  trappers.  As 
the  knack  of  pulling  the  hearts  of  the  smaller 
animals  trapped  is  worth  knowing,  and  will 
save  the  hunter  dirty  work  in  the  skinning  of 
the  pelts,  I  will  describe  the  process  as  plain  as 
I  can. 

It  is  bad  enough  to  skin  an  animal  that  has 
been  struggling  in  a  steel  trap,  and  got  the  im- 
prisoned leg  a  mass  of  congealed  blood,  without 
adding  to  the  disagreeableness  of  the  job  crush- 
ing in  his  head  or  breaking  his  back  with  a  pole. 
This  at  least  can  be  avoided  by  pulling  down 
the  heart  till  the  cords  snap.  In  no  other  way 
do  Indians,  or  those  who  have  learned  trapping 
from  Indians,  kill  the  small  animals  they  find 
alive  when  visiting  their  line  of  traps.  Foxes, 
martens,  minks  and  rabbits  are  always  killed  in 
this  way.     Lynx,  of  course,  is  a  nasty  animal  to 

195 


196  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

approach  in  a  trap,  still  the  Indian  trapper 
never  thinks  of  shooting,  or  hitting  him  with  a 
pole.  On  the  contrary  they  fix  a  noosed  cord 
to  a  young  sapling  cut  for  the  purpose,  and 
snare  him  from  the  length  of  the  pole ;  once  over 
his  head  they  stand  on  the  pole  and  let  him 
struggle  till  dead.  This  prevents  hlood  from 
being  on  the  skin.  A  live  bear  in  a  steel  trap 
must  be  shot  to  make  "a  good  bear  of  him." 

But  the  Indian  trapper  again  uses  his  judg- 
ment and  waits  till  the  first  violent  struggles 
are  over,  and  the  bear  somewhat  quiet,  then  the 
hunter  t^kes  careful  aim  and  puts  a  bullet  into 
his  ear,  being  always  at  pretty  close  range.  The 
ball  passes  clear  thru  the  head,  killing  the  bear 
instantly  and  making  a  wound  that  bleeds  pro- 
fusely, so  that  when  the  skinning  process  takes 
place,  there  is  no  blood  in  the  body.  The  skin 
is  cut  around  the  throat,  skinned  towards  the 
body  and  the  head  left  as  it  is.  However,  this 
is  digressing  from  the  subject  at  issue. 

The  small  animals  I  have  mentioned  Avhen 
caught  with  snow  on  the  ground,  are  simply 
walked  on  top  of  by  the  hunter's  snowshoes; 
once  he  is  pinned  down  so  that  he  cannot  move, 
the  trapper  slips  his  left  hand  under  snowshoes 
and  secures  the  fox  or  whatever  it  is  by  the  neck 
with  a  tight  grip  of  the  thumb  and  fingers. 
Then  the  snowshoe  is  withdraAvn  until  it  holds 


AET  OF   PULLING   HEARTS.  197 

the  hind  quarters  only;  the  hand  with  the  head 
and  neck  is  elevated  until  the  body  is  extended 
to  its  utmost. 

The  right  hand  now  feels  for  the  heart  just 
below  the  bottom  rib;  it  may  not  be  there  at 
once,  but  it  will  come.  When  the  animal  feels 
the  grip  tightening  on  his  throat  the  sense  of 
strangulation  causes  the  heart  to  jump  down 
and  up  in  the  body  in  the  most  violent  manner. 
This  the  hunter  seizes  at  one  of  the  downward 
pumps,  catches  it  between  the  thumb  and  fingers 
of  the  right  hand;  then  pulling  the  body  in  one 
direction  and  the  heart  in  the  other,  the  heart- 
strings snap.  The  animal  gives  a  convulsive 
quiver  and  you  chuck  him  down  dead. 

Oh  yes!  it  is  much  better  than  the  brutal 
way  of  banging  them  on  the  head  with  the  axe 
handle  or  a  pole,  and  much  more  humane  be- 
cause the  animal  is  dead  at  once,  almost  as 
quick  as  if  shocked  with  electricity.  Animals 
trapped  in  the  late  fall,  or  early  snow,  cannot 
be  held  by  the  snowshoe,  therefore  some  other 
means  must  be  taken.  It  does  not  do  to  take 
any  risks  of  being  bitten,  for  animals  after 
struggling  in  a  trap  for  some  time,  become  more 
or  less  mad,  consequently  the  venom  getting 
into  one's  blood  might  cause  a  very  bad  wound 
to  heal,  especially  as  the  man  who  hunts  can- 
not avoid  the  cold  getting  into  the  sore,  and  then 


198  CANADIAN  WiLDS. 

should  such  happen  one  cannot  foretell  what 
the  sequel  may  be. 

To  avoid  therefore  all  mishaps  the  hunter 
draws  his  belt  axe,  and  cuts  a  forked  young 
birch  or  alder,  the  handle  part  being  about  four 
feet  long,  at  the  extremity  of  which  a  fork  is 
left  with  prongs  of  five  or  six  inches  long. 

Presenting  this  to  the  trapped  beast,  he 
snaps  at  it ;  the  trapper  watches  his  chance  and 
deftly  slips  the  fork  over  his  neck  and  with  a 
quick  downward  push,  marten,  fox  or  fisher  is 
secured.  The  left  hand  is  exchanged  for  the 
forked  stick,  the  right  foot  is  i)laced  on  his  hind 
quarters  to  keep  him  from  clawing,  then  go  for 
his  heart  with  the  right  hand.  One  trying  for 
the  first  time  may  have  some  little  difficulty,  but 
after  a  few  animals  have  passed  thru  his  hands 
he  will  as  well  as  I  do,  know  the  ART  OF  PUL- 
LING HEARTS. 

During  my  many  years  as  a  fur  trader,  part 
of  the  time  has  been  passed  on  the  frontier 
where  opposition  is  keen  and  hunters,  both  In- 
dians and  whites,  are  careless  in  preparing  their 
peltries  for  market.  As  long  as  they  are  dried 
in  a  way  to  keep,  is  all  sufficient  for  them.  Mus- 
quash will  be  simply  drawn  over  a  bent  willow 
and  dried  in  the  blazing  sun  or  near  the  camp 
fire.  The  little  animal  is  hastily  skinned  and 
considerable  fat  is  left  on  the  skin,  which,  by 


ART  OF   PULLING   HEARTS.  199 

being  subjected  to  a  quick  and  great  heat,  pene- 
trates the  skin  and  it  is  consequently  grease 
burnt. 

The  greater  number  of  beaver  skins  one  gets 
about  the  Canadian  villages  are  badly  gotten  up. 
This,  in  a  great  measure,  is  due  to  the  French 
custom  of  buying  by  weights  instead  of  by  the 
skin,  the  hunters  reasoning  that  the  more  meat, 
grease,  flippers,  etc.,  they  can  leave  on,  the 
greater  number  of  pounds  gross. 

Mink  and  otter  are  the  two  hardest  animals 
we  have  to  skin  clean,  and  the  majority  we  get 
on  the  frontier  go  to  the  London  markets  in  a 
shameful  state,  and  must  tend  towards  their  de- 
crease in  value.  I  have  seen  foxes,  minks,  mar- 
tens and  musquash  as  taken  crumpled  like  rags 
from  the  same  bag.  It  was  a  great  wrench  for 
me  after  handling  skins  of  every  sort  positively 
prime,  and  as  clean  as  the  paper  upon  which 
this  is  printed,  for  twenty  years  to  find  myself 
on  the  frontier  buying  such  burnt  and  crumpled 
skins,  as  I  found  was  the  rule  rather  than  the 
exception. 

Yes,  it  was  a  pleasure  to  barter  the  furs 
hunted  by  our  inland  Indians;  every  skin  was 
brought  to  the  post  hair  side  in.  If  the  Indian 
had  a  bear,  the  two  flanks  were  turned  in 
lengthwise  of  the  skin,  then  the  hide  was  folded 
twice,  the  thick  part  of  the  head  and  shoulders 


200  CANADIAN  WILDS.. 

being  brought  down  on  top  of  all  as  a  protection 
to  the  thinner  parts.  Large  bearer  were  folded 
crosswise  of  the  skin  twice,  making  a  kind  of 
portfolio  about  eighteen  inches  wide  by  twenty- 
eight  to  thirty  inches  long.  Small  beaver  were 
folded  once  lengthwise  of  the  skin,  and  these 
came  to  us  as  a  rule,  two  placed  inside  of  each 
large  beaver  as  they  went. 

In  the  interior  where  the  hunters  have  well 
defined  grounds  to  trap  on  they,  by  self-interest, 
protect  the  beaver  and  kill  comparatively  few 
young  ones.  Our  average  for  the  whole  year 
would  probably  be  one  small  one  to  two  middle 
or  full  grown.  The  martens  are  tied  flat  the 
whole  length  of  the  skins  in  bundles  of  ten  each, 
with  a  thin  splinter  of  cedar  wood  on  top  and 
bottom  to  prevent  them  from  being  crumpled  in 
any  way.  Minks  are  treated  just  as  carefully. 
Foxes,  fisher  and  lynx  are  folded  one  crosswise 
and  then  placed  either  inside  of  beaver  or  bear 
skins.  Thus  nothing  is  exposed  from  an  In- 
dian's pack  of  furs,  either  to  view  or  friction, 
but  strong  leather.  Musquash,  like  all  other 
skins  except  bear  and  beaver,  are  skinned  from 
the  head  down  and  each  skin  is  cased,  which 
makes  them  clean,  flat  and  nice  to  handle. 

As  their  hunts  are  made  during  the  cold 
months  when  the  animals  have  their  primest 
coats,  and  as  every  particle  of  flesh  or  grease 


ART  OF  PULLING  HEARTS.        201 

is  frost  scraped,  the  skin  lastly  washed  on  the 
case  and  then  the  pelt  dried  by  the  action  of 
frost  alone,  it  can  be  readily  understood  with 
such  care  as  I  have  tried  to  explain,  that  we  get 
the  very  finest  and  most  pleasing  skins  that  go 
out  of  the  country.  The  Indian's  business  is  to 
hunt  and  bring  the  fruits  of  the  chase  or  traps 
to  his  wigwam;  it  is  his  wife  and  daughters' 
duty  to  skin  and  cure  the  pelts.  The  Indians 
have  the  pride  and  ambition  to  vie  with  their 
sister  matrons  of  the  forest  as  to  who  will  get 
up  the  cleanest,  best  and  "well  prepared  skins." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

DARK   FURS. 

It  is  not  perhaps  generally  known  that  the 
surroundings  of  most  animals  have  a  primary 
effect  on  the  color  of  their  hair.  Beaver,  otter, 
mink  and  musquash  are  dark  or  light  colored 
according  to  the  water  they  live  in.  Clear,  cold 
water  lakes  produce  skins  of  a  deep  glossy 
black,  muddy  lakes  on  the  other  hand,  furnish- 
ing light  colored  fur. 

Having  studied  this  in  my  own  hunting  and 
trapping,  I  have  often  surprised  an  Indian  when 
trading  his  skins  by  saying:  "You  trapped  this 
and  this  skin  in  a  clear  water  lake,"  and  he  has 
admitted  it  as  true.  Another  peculiar  fact  in 
relation  to  deep,  cold  water  lakes  is  that,  while 
the  skins  they  produce  are  of  the  finest  quality, 
they  are  also  much  smaller  in  size  than  those 
trapped  in  brown  or  muddy  water,  and  this  ap- 
plies to  all  the  animals  I  have  mentioned. 

Musquash  killed  in  clear  water  lakes  are 
about  two-thirds  the  size  of  those  trapped  in 
grassy,  sluggish  rivers,  and  it  is  the  same  with 
mink.     This  rule  holds  good  also  with  land  ani- 

202 


i)ARIt  FURS.  203 

mals,  such  as  marten,  those  living  in  and  resort- 
ing to  black  spruce  swamps  being  invariably 
dark  colored,  whereas  those  in  mixed  pine,  birch 
and  balsam  hills  are  larger  and  lighter  in  color. 

For  seven  years  I  trapped  on  a  chain  of 
lakes,  five  in  number.  One  of  these  lay  off  at 
one  side,  not  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
other  four;  it  was  of  considerable  extent,  possi- 
bly a  mile  and  a  half  long  by  a  quarter  wide. 
This  lake  was  very  clear  and  deep,  and  used  to 
freeze  over  two  weeks  later  than  the  others,  and 
open  that  much  earlier  in  the  spring.^ 

On  the  borders  of  this  lake,  which  was 
known  as  "Clear  Water  Lake,"  were  two  beaver 
lodges,  which  I  preserved  with  the  greatest  care, 
only  trapping  a  few  out  of  each  lodge  every  fall, 
thus  keeping  up  the  supply,  and  finer  and  more 
beautiful  skins  I  never  handled.  This  valley 
being  within  a  few  miles  of  the  post,  I  got  the 
Indian  who  owned  the  lands  to  make  over  his 
rights  for  a  consideration,  and  I  kept  these  lakes 
as  a  home  farm  or  preserve  as  long  as  I  re- 
mained in  that  district. 

It  was  in  the  upper  one  of  these  lakes  that  I 
trapped  the  most  extraordinary  beaver  of  my 
experience,  he  having  only  one  hind  foot,  the 
other  feet  having  been  gnawed  or  twisted  off  in 
traps.  The  Indian  owner  of  the  lands,  when 
selling  his  good  will,  told  me  of  this  desperate 


204  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

and  cunning  old  animal  and  I  passed  many  a 
long,  solitary  evening  in  my  canoe  to  get  a  shot 
when  the  knowing  old  card  broke  water. 

I  kept  two  or  three  traps  well  set,  with  a 
very  remote  possibility  of  his  putting  his  only 
remaining  foot  therein.  Beaver  medicine  and 
castorum  would  not  allure  him,  and  the  thought 
occurred  to  me  to  try  anise  seed  oil,  which  I  did, 
and  on  my  next  visit  had  the  satisfaction  of 
pulling  him  up  drowned  at  the  end  of  the  chain. 
The  wounds  of  the  cut  off  legs  were  so  thor- 
oughly healed  that  when  I  skinned  him  there 
was  not  even  a  pucker  of  the  skin  in  the  places 
where  the  legs  should  have  been.  It  is  a  marvel 
how  he  managed  to  navigate  the  waters  of  his 
native  pond,  but  as  the  boy  said,  "I  don't  know 
how  he  did  it,  but  he  did." 

Another  freak  that  I  caught  in  those  same 
lakes  was  the  only  albino  beaver  that  I  ever  saw. 
She  had  a  creamy  white  fur,  with  pink  eyes, 
pink  toe  nails  and  pink  scales  on  her  tail.  This 
may  not  have  been  phenomenal,  but  it  was  a 
rare  skin  for  all  that.  At  a  conservative  esti- 
mate I  must  have  handled  a  couple  hundred 
thousand  beaver  skins  in  my  life,  but  this  is  the 
only  instance  that  I  ever  saw  a  white  one. 

The  Clear  Water  Lake,  not  to  be  behind  in 
oddities,  produced  a  dwarf  beaver.  I  caught 
him  late  in  the  fall  in  a  trap  set  for  musquash, 


DARK   FURS.  205 

the  other  lakes  being  frozen  over.  He  was 
about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  full  grown  rat,  but 
was  fully  developed  and  must  have  been  two 
years  old.  At  first  I  thought  he  might  be  of  a 
second  litter,  but  I  thought  this  was  very  im- 
probable, if  not  quite  outside  of  nature,  so  I 
carefully  examined  the  teeth  and  organs,  and 
found  to  intents  and  purposes  he  was  a  full 
grown  beaver. 

Writing  of  full  grown  beaver  puts  me  in 
mind  of  those  early  trapping  days,  and  the  logic 
of  a  certain  Indian,  Then  we  used  to  ^ay  so 
much  a  skin  for  beaver,  and  graded  the  skins  as 
big,  middling  and  small.  In  culling  this  man's 
skins  I  threw  one  into  the  pile  of  middling  ones 
and  he  immediately  said :  "That's  a  big  one," 
and  I  said  it  was  not  and  compared  it  with  sev- 
eral of  the  large  ones.  He,  however,  stoutly 
maintained  it  was  a  big  one  and  said,  "Look  at 
the  white  men,  there  are  big  ones  and  small 
ones,  but  they  are  men  the  same."  I  stood  cor- 
rected and  placed  the  disputed  skin  with  his 
better  grown  and  developed  relatives,  the  Indian 
gave  an  almost  audible  smile,  and  things  went 
on  amicably. 

On  the  watershed  between  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Hudson's  Bay,  marten  are 
prime  on  the  first  of  October.  Beaver,  otter 
and  mink  are  prime  on  the  25th  of  October  and 


206  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

fox  and  lynx  the  15th  of  November.  I  have  of- 
ten seen  the  question  asked  in  the  H-T-T  as 
to  the  time  the  several  kinds  of  fur  are  prime  in 
different  localities,  and  the  above  dates  can  be 
depended  upon  for  the  latitude  mentioned. 

It  pays  the  trapper  to  have  his  trap-houses 
made  and  his  traps  hung  up  ready  to  set  and 
bait  immediately  when  the  skins  are  prime. 
They  are  easily  cleaned  and  command  a  much 
higher  average,  whereas  if  the  majority  of  skins 
in  a  man's  pack  are  unprimed  or  staged,  it  takes 
away  from  the  value  of  the  few  really  few  good 
ones. 

The  buyer,  to  get  these  few  merchantable 
skins,  has  to  put  some  kind  of  value  on  the  culls 
to  make  a  buy,  but  in  reality  the  trader  is  only 
paying  for  the  few  good  ones  and  the  trapper 
loses  the  other  skins.  And  who  is  to  blame? 
Trappers  have  been  told  time  and  again  that 
trapping  too  early  in  the  season  is  against  their 
best  interests;  nevertheless  they  go  blindly  on, 
killing  the  poor  beasts  that  have  little  or  no 
value,  and  then  they  marvel  at  the  scarcity  of 
the  fur-bearing  animals  and  the  little  return 
they  have  to  show  for  a  couple  of  months'  hard 
work. 

No.  If  there  is  any  line  that  wants  protec- 
tion and  a  cast  iron  union  between  the  men  con- 
nected with  the  industry,  it  is  the  fur  trade.  All 


DARK   FURS.  207 

are,  or  ought  to  be,  interested  in  the  keeping  up 
of  the  supply  and  quality,  the  trapper,  wholesale 
man  and  manufacturer  alike.  Let  the  last  two 
unite  and  not  buy  unprime  skins,  and  the  for- 
mer for  want  of  a  market  would  very  soon  hunt 

in  season  only. 

«         *         * 

In  this  northern  country  fur-bearing  animals 
continue  prime  much  longer  than  elsewhere. 
The  trappers  and  hunters  (Indians)  only  come 
down  from  the  interior  from  the  tenth  of  June, 
and  all  the  way  down  to  the  end  of  the' month. 
Thus  the  month  of  June  is  the  fur  buying 
month. 

Prior  to  the  Paris  Exposition  a  fair  and 
legitimate  trade  was  possible,  the  Indians  got  a 
fair  and  reasonable  price  for  their  skins,  and  as 
a  rule  were  reasonably  honest.  But  that  year 
marked  the  demoralization  of  the  fur  trade  on 
this  coast.  Opposition  became  keen  and  fur 
buyers  from  Quebec,  Boston,  New  York  and 
Paris,  came  to  the  different  places  of  resort  of 
the  Indians,  bidding  up  raw  furs  to  prices  out 
of  all  reason.  The  consequence  of  which  were, 
and  are,  that  the  Indian  did  not  pay  his  fur- 
nisher, but  kept  up  his  finest  furs  to  sell  to  these 
parties  for  high  cash  prices. 

Other  traders  followed  the  fur  buyers,  and 
sold  the  Indians  useless  trashy  articles.    The 


208  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

result  is  the  Indians  have  to  leave  for  the  bush 
ill  supplied  with  warm  clothings,  provisions, 
etc.  —  what  he  actually  requires.  A  large  por- 
tion of  his  hunt  has  been  sold  for  abnormal 
prices,  but  the  proceeds  has  done  him  no  per- 
ceptible good.  On  the  contrary,  his  lot  is  much 
worse  than  it  was  before.  Seeing  his  advances 
have  not  been  paid,  the  resident  trader  will  not 
supply  these  men  again. 

I  take  about  the  Post  of  Seven  Islands  as 
perhaps  being  the  place  where  the  highest  prices 
have  been  paid  for  three  years,  1899,  1900  and 
1901,  and  give  the  readers  of  Hunter-Tr^ider- 
Trapper  the  figures.     They  are  as  follows: 

Bears,  large,  black  from $  15.00  to  |  25.00 

Bears,  small,  black,  from . .  .  6.00  to  12.00 

Beaver  per  lb 3.50  to  4.50 

Fisher,  from   6.00  to  10.00 

Fox,  red,  from 3.50  to  5.50 

Fox,  cross,  from 4.00  to  25.00 

Fox,  silver,  from   100.00  to  335.00 

Lynx,  from    4.00  to  7.00 

Marten,   from    10.00  to  20.00 

Minks,  from 2.50  to  4.00 

Otters,  land,  from   15.00  to  22.00 

Wolverine,  from  4.00  to  6.00 

These  are  the  principal  furs  we  have  on  the 
Coast  and  will  show  what  absurd  prices  were 


DARK   FURS.  209 

paid.  We  know  that  furs  realized  good  prices 
at  the  last  London  sales,  and.  some  few,  very 
few,  bought  were  no  doubt  well  worth  these  high 
prices. 

The  part  where  the  most  harm  was  done  the 
trade  was  the  anxiety  of  some  of  these  buyers 
to  get  the  furs  at  almost  any  price.  Almost  any 
kind  of  a  marten  Avould  be  paid  |10  for.  Such 
martens  that  the  writer  of  this  article  has 
bought  a  few  years  ago  for  |1.25,  a  very  choice 
marten,  large,  dark  and  well  furred,  one  we  will 
say  out  of  two  or  three  hundred,  such  a'  one  as 
we  ordinarily  paid  $7  for,  has  brought  |18  to 
$20.  Martens  and  otters  especially,  they  seem 
to  have  gone  perfectly  crazy  to  get. 

Two  years  ago  a  man,  further  down  the 
Coast  paid  $720  for  what  I  was  told  was  a  very 
ordinary  Silver  Fox.  He  went  to  Paris  during 
the  Exposition  with  the  fox  to  sell.  I  never 
heard  if  he  got  his  money  back.  Had  he  paid 
$150,  he  would  have  got  the  fox  just  the  same 
for  this  was  the  price  being  paid  along  the  Coast 
during  that  year. 

The  rivers  are  the  highways  of  the  Indians 
and  the  mouths  of  most  of  the  big  ones  are  the 
summer  camping  grounds.  At  these  places  are 
trading  posts  where  they  barter  and  sell  their 
winter's   catch,   get   new   supplies   for   another 

14 


210  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

year,  and  load  their  canoes  again  in  September 
for  another  nine  or  ten  months  in  the  Par  North 
Wilds. 

When  the  reaction  comes,  as  it  must  come, 
it  will  be  pretty  hard  to  convince  the  Indians 
that  their  martens  are  only  worth  f5  or  |6. 
The  bottom  is  bound  to  fall  out,  and  many  of 
these  men,  who  are  paying  the  present  prices, 
must  go  to  the  wall.  With  unlimited  money, 
any  fool  can  buy  skins.  But  it  requires  a  judge 
and  careful  man  to  buy  with  discretion. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

INDIANS    ARE    POOR    SHOTS. 

During  a  residence  of  many  years  among 
four  different  tribes  of  Indians,  I  found,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  they  were  poor  shots, 
either  with  the  gun  or  rifle. 

When  one  considers  that  from  young  boy- 
hood they  have  been  in  the  habit  of  'using  a 
gun  almost  daily,  and  their  very  living  depends, 
in  great  manner,  on  accurate  shooting,  their 
poor  marksmanship  is  to  be  wondered  at,  never- 
theless such  is  the  case.  A  good  wing  shot  is 
a  rarity  among  the  Indians. 

The  Montagnais  of  the  Labrador  and  North 
Shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  are  no  ex- 
ception, and  this  in  a  country  where  most  of 
the  wild  fowl  are  killed  flying.  It  is  admitted 
they  kill  wild  geese  and  ducks  while  on  their 
passage  north  and  south,  but  this  is  only  possi- 
ble from  the  immense  numbers  of  birds  and  a 
lavish  expenditure  of  ammunition. 

It  is  a  common  thing  for  an  Indian  getting 
his  spring  outfit  to  go  among  the  islands  to  take 
from  the  trader  one  hundred  pounds  of  shot,  a 
keg  of  twenty-five  pounds  of  powder  and  two 

211 


212  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

thousand  five  hundred  percussion  caps  (they 
use  muzzleloaders).  They  always  take  about  20 
per  cent,  more  caps  than  are  necessary  to  fire 
the  powder,  as  they  explain,  to  make  up  for 
what  they  drop. 

The  Indians  are  very  partial  to  loon ;  but,  as 
a  rule,  it  is  the  most  expensive  food  they  eat. 
A  great  number  alight  on  Lake  Ka-ke-bon-ga  on 
their  way  north  in  the  spring.  This  happens 
about  the  time  the  Indians  arrive  at  the  Post 
to  trade  their  winter  catch  of  furs. 

When  a  poor  unfortunate  loon  would  settle 
on  the  lake  it  was  the  signal  for  ten  or  twenty 
canoes  to  put  off  and  shoot  or  drown  him  to 
death.  Far  more  frequently,  I  fancy,  the  poor 
bird  expired  from  want  of  air  than  weight  of 
shot. 

To  watch  these  loon  hunts  from  the  gallery 
of  our  house  was  picturesque  in  the  extreme, 
the  canoes  going,  some  in  one  direction  as  fast 
as  the  paddlers  could  drive  them,  and  then  all 
of  a  sudden  the  cry  would  ascend  that  the  loon 
had  broken  water  in  quite  the  opposite  place 
from  where  they  were  confident  he  would.  Then 
in  a  moment,  the  canoes  would  be  whirled  about 
like  tops,  and  off  again  in  the  new  direction, 
possibly  to  again  find  they  are  at  fault. 

The  wonder  to  me  was  there  were  no  casual- 
ties, as  almost  incessant  firing  was  kept  up,  with 


INDIANS  ARE  POOR  SHOTS.  213 

canoes  going  in  several  directions  at  once,  and 
all  on  the  save  level;  and  when  the  loon  would 
emerge,  bang!  would  go  several  guns,  regard- 
less where  pointed,  in  the  excitement. 

I  call  to  memory  one  day  in  particular.  At 
the  call  of  "loon!''  I  took  a  seat  on  the  gallery, 
with  the  fixed  resolve  to  count  how  many  shots 
would  be  fired,  and  this  is  the  result  of  my  tab. 

Twelve  canoes  put  off  from  the  camps,  four 
hours  consumed  in  the  killing,  and  ninety-six 
shots  were  fired. 

This  happened  nearly  forty  years  ago,  when 
powder  sold,  at  that  inland  post,  at  a  dollar  a 
pound;  shot,  thirty-three  cents,  and  gun  caps  a 
half  a  cent  each,  so  the  reader  can  redily  see 
that  loon  meat,  under  that  way  of  hunting,  was 
expensive. 

We  read  of  and  are  told  about  the  great 
slaughter  the  Indians  used  to  make  among  the 
buffalo  in  the  good  old  days;  but  this  success 
was  not  to  be  attributed  to  their  goods  marks- 
manship, because  they  killed  these  noble  beasts 
with  their  guns  almost  "boute  touchant." 

One  thing  about  their  mode  of  loading  and 
firing  might  be  interesting  to  readers  of  the 
present  day,  inasmuch  as  a  generation  has  been 
born  and  has  grown  up  since  the  last  buffalo 
roamed  the  plains. 

The  Indians  and  half-breeds  who  went  on 


^14  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

these  periodical  round-ups  were  armed  with 
and  preferred  the  old  nor-west  muzzle-loading 
flint-lock.  They  could  load  and  fire  with  such 
rapidity  that  one  would  almost  fancy  they  car- 
ried a  repeating  gun.  Suspended  under  their 
right  arm  by  a  deer  thong,  was  a  common  cow's 
horn  of  powder,  and  in  a  pouch  at  their  belt  a 
handful  or  two  of  bullets. 

As  the  horse  galloped  up  to  the  herd,  the 
Indian  would  pour  a  charge  of  powder  into  his 
left  hand,  transfer  it  into  the  barrel  of  the  gun, 
give  the  butt  a  pound  on  the  saddle,  and  out 
of  his  mouth  drop  on  top  a  bullet.  As  tlie  lead 
rolled  down  the  barrel  it  carried  in  its  wet  state 
particles  of  powder  that  stuck  on  the  sides,  and 
settled  on  top  of  the  powder  charge.  Xo  rod  or 
ramming  was  used. 

The  gun  was  carried  muzzle  up,  resting  on 
the  hollow  of  left  arm  until  such  time  as  the 
Indian  desired  to  fire.  The  quarry  being  so  close 
no  aim  was  required.  On  deflecting  the  barrel 
the  trigger  was  pulled  before  the  ball  had  time 
to  roll  clear  of  the  powder. 

The  Indians  saw  that  their  buffalo  guns  had 
very  large  touch-holes,  thereby  assuring  the  pan 
being  primed.  When  all  the  balls  were  fired  a 
few  others  were  chuked  into  the  mouth,  and 
merrily  went  the  game. 

No !  The  Indians  are  not  good  shots. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

A  BEAR  IN  THE  WATER. 

The  bear  has  one  trait  especially  that  is 
most  dangerous  to  the  uneducated  hunter,  and 
that  is  when  found  swimming  a  lake  or  river 
he  invariably  goes  in  a  straight  line  from  where 
he  left  the  shore.  Any  obstacle  in  the  way  h.^ 
clambers  over,  be  it  a  log,  boat  or  canoe. 

Should  the  place  where  he  reaches  the  fur- 
ther shore  be  a  high  rocky  bluflp,  he  climbs  this, 
rather  than  turn  from  his  direct  course.  This 
may  be  pigheadedness  or  stupidity;  be  it  as  it 
may,  he  will  not  turn  to  a  low-shelving  beach  a 
few  yards  at  one  side,  but  it  never  enters  his 
head  to  take  the  easier  landing. 

I  once  saw  a  bear  swimming  across  near  the 
discharge  of  a  lake.  There  was  a  string  of  booms 
hanging  down  stream  near  the  other  shore  and 
at  right  angles  to  where  he  was  heading.  He 
simply  clambered  over  the  boom  logs  and  took 
the  water  again  on  the  other  side,  instead  of 
trotting  along  the  boom  to  the  shore. 

I  was  acquainted  with  an  old  Indian,  who, 
knowing  this  trait  of  bears  to  land  where  they 

215 


216    •  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

head  for,  did  a  deed  of  great  nerve  for  a  man 
of  over  sixty.  He  was  visiting  his  fish  net  on  the 
shore  of  a  narrow  lake,  when  he  saw  a  large  bear 
enter  the  water  on  the  opposite  side  a  little 
above,  and  head  for  the  shore  the  old  man  was 
on.  Old  Pete  had  no  gun,  but  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate a  moment,  but  caught  up  his  hunting  ax, 
and  ran  along  shore  to  where  the  bear  would 
iland.  The  old  man  was  plainly  visible  to  the 
^bear  f rom  the  first,  but  Bruin  kept  on  his  direct 
Course.  Old  Pete  waded  out  from  the  shore 
nearly  to  his  waist  with  ax  unlifted,  and  waited 
Everything  depended  on  striking  true,  and  at 
the  proper  and  precise  moment.  He  had  the 
bear,  it  is  true,  at  a  disadvantage.  Still,  many 
a  younger  and  stronger  man  would  have  de- 
clined the  risk. 

Pete  was  successful;  he  buried  the  ax  clean 
into  the  skull  the  first  blow. 

Another  instance  I  witnessed  of  a  bear  not 
turning  aside  for  any  obstacle:  We  were  later 
than  usual  one  evening  on  the  water;  my  men 
were  anxious  to  get  to  the  portage  before  camp- 
ing, and  were  tracking  the  canoe  up  the  last 
mile  at  deep  dusk.  There  were  four  men  on 
the  line  ashore,  and  the  bow  and  steersmen 
standing  up  in  the  canoe  fending  her  off  the 
rocks  and  shallows.  My  companion  and  I  were 
sitting  very  quietly  in  the  middle  compartment 


A  BEAR  IN  THE  WATER.  217 

of  our  large  canoe ;  the  men  also  were  not  in  a 
talking  mood,  being  tired  and  hungry.  I  was 
sitting  on  the  side  next  the  river  and  noticed  a 
black  object  which  at  first  I  mistook  for  a  stone, 
partly  out  of  the  water ;  but  with  a  second,  and 
more  searching  look,  I  made  it  out  to  be  a  bear 
coming  straight  toward  the  canoe. 

I  gave  warning  to  the  man  in  the  bow,  who 
stood  a  few  feet  in  front  of  me,  and  he  imme- 
diately gave  a  sharp  tug  on  the  tow  line,  which 
checked  the  men  ashore.  The  bear  by  this  time 
was  about  five  or  six  yards  from  the  cahoe,  and 
just  opposite  me.  I  saw  that  nothing  would 
now  stop  him  from  climbing  into  and  across  the 
canoe.  Before  he  could  place  his  paw  on  the 
side  of  the  bark  the  man  in  the  bow  made  a 
savage  lunge  at  him  with  his  pike  pole,  but  be- 
fore he  could  give  a  second  blow  the  bear  was 
in  on  my  side  and  out  on  the  other,  right  across 
our  legs.  Our  men  of  the  tow  had  run  back,  the 
man  in  the  stern  being  too  far  off  to  be  of  any 
use,  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  throw  an  arm- 
ful of  paddles,  w^hich  being  of  maple,  made  for- 
midable weapons.  When  the  bear  got  out  on  the 
shore  side  they  rained  blows  upon  blows  with 
the  sharp  blades  of  the  paddles  upon  his  head 
and  body  as  they  could  get  a  chance.  The  bow 
man  sprang  ashore  and  lent  his  assistance  with 
his  formidable  pole,  but  marvelous  as  it  may 


218  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

sound,  the  bear  escaped  into  the  bush  in  spite 
of  all  thafr  his  assailants  could  do  to  prevent 
him. 

Long  into  the  night  about  the  dying  embers 
of  the  camp-fire,  I  heard  the  men  going  over 
the  whole  scene  and  blaming  one  another  for 
not  having  done  something  they  ought  to  have 
done. 

One  other  instance  I  will  give  of  a  bear's  per- 
sistency to  go  straight  in  the  water,  and  in  this 
case  it  was  fatal  to  two  men. 

Two  newly  married  couples  left  the  mouth  of 
the  Moisie  for  the  interior.  Their  third  day  up 
stream  brought  them  to  a  place  where,  off  to 
one  side  in  the  bush  about  a  mile  back,  was  a 
noted  lake  for  trout  and  whitefish.  It  was  de- 
cided that  they  should  portage  one  canoe,  and 
with  their  blankets,  net  and  cooking  utensils 
go  and  pass  the  night  on  the  lake  shore.  One 
gun  was  all  the  men  took  (a  flintlock  —  for  this 
was  years  ago).  Shortly  after  arriving  at  the 
lake  a  bear  was  seen  swimming  from  the  other 
side,  coming  toward  where  the  Indians  were  ty- 
ing their  net.  The  two  young  men  jumped  into 
the  canoe  and  pushed  out  to  meet  him,  which  was 
a  fatal  mistake.  The  man  in  the  bow  waited  till 
the  bear  was  within  a  couple  of  yards  off  from 
the  bow,  and  then  pulled  the  trigger.  The  old 
gun  flashed  in  the  pan,  but  there  was  no  report. 


A  BEAR  IN  THE  WATER.  2l9 

The  next  instant  the  bear  clambered  over  the 
head  of  the  canoe  and  rolled  the  occupants  into 
the  water.  The  young  brides  of  a  few  days  ran 
screaming  along  shore,  unable  to  render  any 
assistance  to  their  husbands,  and  actually  wit- 
nessed both  drown  before  their  very  eyes. 

I  remember  the  arrival  of  the  two  poor 
women  back  to  the  coast,  and  the  relation  of 
their  pathetic  story.  To  make  the  case  much 
more  remarkable,  they  were  twins  by  birth,  and 
twin  widows  by  this  tragedy. 

A  word  of  advice  after  the  foregoing  illus- 
trations of  the  danger  of  getting  in  front  of  a 
swimming  bear  is  hardly  now  necessary,  but  one 
cannot  impress  too  forcibly  the  danger  in  at- 
tacking a  bear  by  a  frontal  move.  Always  ap- 
proach a  bear  in  the  water  either  on  one  side 
or  from  the  rear.  You  can  paddle  up  quite 
close  to  a  bear  in  the  direction  he  is  swimming 
without  the  least  particle  of  danger,  and  a  more 
vital  and  telling  spot  to  fire  at  cannot  be  got 
than  the  back  and  base  of  the  skull. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

VORACIOUS  PIKE. 

Calling  the  pike  the  fresh  water  shark  is  a 
name  well  applied,  for  he  is  bold  and  any- 
thing that  conies  his  way  is  food  for  his  maw. 
It  is  a  known  fact  to  those  who  have  studied 
its  habits  that  he  will  eat  frogs,  young  ducks, 
musquash,  in  fact,  anything  that  happens  to  be 
in  front  of  him,  not  even  barring  his  own  off- 
spring. How  destructive  they  are  in  a  trout 
or  whiteflsh  lake  is  well  known. 

One  of  the  lakes  on  which  I  was  stationed 
years  ago  was  said  to  have  been,  formerly,  good 
for  whitefish,  but  Avas  now  almost  nude  of  this 
staple  food  of  the  dwellers  at  the  post,  brought 
about  by  the  increasing  number  of  pike. 

As  I  was  likely  to  be  in  charge,  for  a  few 
years  at  least,  I  set  to  work  to  destroy  these 
marauders.  The  lake  is  only  a  mile  and  a  half 
long  by  a  quarter  broad.  It  discharges  into  a 
large  river  by  a  shallow  creek,  but,  by  this 
creek,  no  doubt,  many  pike  were  added  to  the 
number  at  each  spawning  time. 

The  creek  took  my  attention  first,  and  we 
220 


VORACIOUS  PIKE.  221 

staked  it  from  side  to  side  with  pickets  six  feet 
high  and  planted  them  about  two  inches  apart. 

At  the  back  or  river  side  of  this  barrier  we 
kept  some  okl,  almost  useless,  nets  set  continu- 
ously. They  were  doubled  so  that  no  small  sized 
pike  could  pass.  This  was  done  during  the  low 
water  in  August. 

My  next  move  was  to  employ  every  boy,  girl 
and  old  woman  about  the  post  trolling  for  pike. 
We  supplied  them  with  the  trolls  and  lines  and 
paid  them  a  cent  apiece  for  every  pike  over  a 
foot  long.  « 

During  this  trolling  process  we  kept  some 
nets  of  large  mesh,  set  purposely  for  the  bigger 
ones.  For  days  and  weeks  there  must  have 
been  landed  on  an  average  a  hundred  a  day,  and 
yet  they  came. 

As  most  of  the  pay  was  taken  out  in  cheap 
"bullseyes"  at  a  cent  apiece,  the  real  outlay  in 
money  was  not  considerable. 

The  following  spring  we  inaugurated  an- 
other system  of  warfare  against  the  pests,  and 
that  was  by  paddling  quietly  around  the  bays 
and  shooting  them  while  they  lay  spawning  and 
basking  in  the  sun  and  shallow  water. 

Often  three  or  four  would  be  clustered  to- 
gether. A  shot  would  not  kill  the  whole,  but  it 
would  stun  them  so  we  could  finish  them  with 
the  paddle. 


222  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

One.  that  was  killed  in  this  way  measured 
thirty-nine  inches  long  and  weighed  thirty-five 
pounds.  A  fish  of  this  size  was  good  eating,  and 
therefore  used  at  the  post. 

The  small,  slimy  ones,  however,  were  burned 
in  numbers  on  a  brush  heap. 

With  such  persistent .  and  continued  on- 
slaught on  our  part,  at  the  end  of  the  first  year 
their  numbers  were  very  noticeably  decreased, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  following  summer  tliey 
were  positively  scarce,  and  a  very  welcome  num- 
ber of  whitefish  stocked  our  lake  in  their  place. 

I  resided  at  that  post  for  twelve  years,  and 
we  were  never  in  want  of  the  finest  fish  for  the 
post's  consumption. 

Before  closing  this  sketch  I  must  tell  one 
anecdote  about  a  pike,  even  if  I  lay  myself  open 
to  be  disbelieved  by  the  reader.  I  am  well  aware 
that  fish  stories  stand  in  bad  repute  and  the 
veracity  of  the  narrator  doubted.  The  follow- 
ing is  positively  true  and  came  under  my  notice : 

Years  before  the  foregoing  part  of  my  story 
happened  I  was  stationed  on  the  height  of  land 
north  of  Lake  Superior,  and  one  afternoon  port- 
aged my  canoe  over  into  a  small  chain  of  beaver 
lakes  hunting  for  signs." 

It  was  a  "still,  calm  day,"  as  some  high-flown 
writer  would  put  it. 


VORACIOUS   PIKE.  223 

A  feather  dropped  would  have  fallen  straight 
to  the  earth. 

I  was  paddling  very  quietly  out  into  the  lake 
from  the  portage  when  I  noticed  something 
moving  very  gently  on  the  surface  a  few  yards 
ahead  of  the  canoe.  Getting  closer  I  made  this 
out  to  be  the  fin  of  some  fish  moving  sluggishly. 
Pushing  the  canoe  further  in  advance  with 
noiseless  knife  strokes  of  the  paddle,  I  got  close 
enough  to  see  it  was  a  pike  with  a  whitefish  half 
protruding  from  its  mouth  and  almost  dead 
from  suffocation.  ' 

This,  I  thought,  is  a  rare  occurrence  for  a 
person  to  witness,  and  gently  reaching  out  my 
hand  I  inserted  my  thumb  and  finger  into  the 
eye  sockets  and  lifted  both  into  the  canoe. 

On  getting  ashore  at  the  next  portage  I 
forced  open  the  jaws  of  the  pike,  and  the  white- 
fish  dropped  from  them.  The  half  that  had  been 
inside  the  pike's  mouth  was  quite  decomposed, 
while  the  part  out  in  the  water  was  compara- 
tively fresh. 

In  trying  to  swallow  this  fish,  which  was 
two-thirds  the  pike's  own  length,  he  had  dis- 
tended his  jaws  to  the  utmost,  but  they  only 
opened  enough  to  reach  near  the  back  fin,  and 
here  fixing  his  teeth  in  savage  fury  the  biter 
had  bitten  more  than  he  could  eat.  He  was 
equally  unable  to  disgorge  himself  as  he  was 


224  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

incapable  of  swallowing,  and  thus  by  his  greedi- 
ness he  brought  on  his  doom. 

Noticing  his  stomach  was  in  a  distended 
shape  caused  me  to  rip  it  open  with  my  knife, 
and  out  tumbled  the  remains  of  a  smaller  white- 
fish,  almost  quite  digested,  which  had  been  swal- 
lowed whole  and  would  have  measured  nearly  a 
foot  long. 

It  was  gluttony  and  not  hunger  that  caused 
him  to  reach  an  untimely  end,  a  moral  for 
greedy  little  boys. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE   BRASS-EYED   DUCK. 

The  whistler,  whistle-wing,  great  head,  gar- 
rot  or  brass-eyed  is  one  of  the  few  ducks  that, 
to  my  knowledge,  builds  its  nest  in  trees. 

The  Indians,  who  are  noted  for  giving  ap- 
propriate names,  call  this  duck  "arrow  duck," 
on  account  of  its  quick  passage  through  ,tlie  air. 
They  fly  very  swiftly,  and  it  is  only  an  expert 
gunner  that  can  bring  them  down  in  succession. 

I  once  had  the  rare  opportunity  of  watching 
the  doings  of  a  female  brass-eyed  from  the  build- 
ing of  the  nest  to  the  time  she  placed  the  young 
ones  on  the  waters  of  the  lake.  To  Avatch  the 
industrious  little  builder  was  a  most  interesting 
pastime  and  afforded  me  much  pleasure.  The 
tree  selected  was  not,  as  one  would  suppose,  im- 
mediately on  the  shore,  but  a  bit  back  in  the 
thick  growth.  Properly  speaking,  the  tree  was 
a  stump,  although  a  strong  live  one  grew  rub- 
bing sides  with  it.  The  stump  was  on  the  south 
side  of  the  green  one,  and  thus  protected  from 
the  north,  and  was  about  twenty  feet  in  height. 

On  examination  shortly  after  the  duck  be- 

15  225 


226  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

gan  to  lay,  I  found  that  the  concave  top  had 
been  lined  with  dead  leaves,  hay,  clay  and  small 
sticks.  After  this  one  peep  in  at  the  archi- 
tecture and  the  couple  of  eggs  therein,  I  re- 
frained from  approaching  the  stump  again,  but 
continued  my  observations  from  a  distance. 

When  the  duck  took  to  steady  setting  I  could 
just  see  her  head  and  bill  over  the  edge  of  the 
nest.  Regularly  each  evening  during  the  period 
of  incubation  she  would  fly  out  onto  the  lake  to 
feed,  drink  and  plume  herself.  These  absences 
from  her  duty  lasted  from  twenty  minutes  to 
half  an  hour. 

When  the  young  were  hatched  I  kept  a  strict 
and  steady  watch  on  her  movements  for  the 
thought  occurred  to  me,  "How  would  they  get 
to  the  ground?"  But,  like  a  good  many  other 
things,  this  riddle  of  the  forest  was  made  clear 
to  me  one  evening  near  sundown. 

I  sat  motionless  in  my  canoe  a  little  to  one 
side  of  the  direction  of  the  stump.  The  lake 
was  as  calm  as  oil,  and  in  a  little  while,  after 
taking  up  my  position,  out  flew  the  mother  in  a 
slanting  way  to  the  water,  and  hajiging  from 
her  bill  was  one  of  the  young  ducks.  This  she 
quickly  deposited  on  the  lake  and  flew  back  to 
the  nest,  and  made  trips  to  and  fro,  until  she 
had  brought  the  whole  of  her  brood  which  num- 
bered seven. 


THE  BRASS-EYED   DUCK.  227 

A  hen  is  a  proud  mother  even  with  one 
chick;  well  this  was  a  transported  one  with 
seven.  She  swam  through  the  midst  of  them, 
around  them,  away  from  them  and  toward  them, 
exhibiting  the  utmost  delight.  Finally  she  led 
them  in  toward  the  shore,  the  shadows  of  the 
woods  shutting  them  out  from  further  observa- 
tion. While  daily  visiting  my  nets  about  the 
lake,  I  often  encountered  the  brood,  or  saw  them 
at  a  short  distance  and  they  continued  to  inter- 
est me. 

One  day  the  number  of  ducklings  appeared 
fewer  than  ought  to  be  and  on  counting  them  I 
found  there  were  only  five.  Next  day  this  was 
reduced  to  four,  and  a  few  days  after,  when 
next  I  saw  them,  there  remained  only  three. 
However,  the  mystery  of  their  disappearance 
was  made  clear  to  me  on  that  same  day,  for 
while  trolling  past  the  ducks'  feeding  grounds  a 
big  maskinonge  struck  the  hooks  savagely. 

Being  alone  in  the  frail  and  small  canoe  I 
had  the  utmost  difficulty  to  successfully  play 
and  kill  him,  but  was  amply  paid,  for  on  clean- 
ing the  big  fish  we  found  in  its  maw  one  of  my 
young  ducks. 

Thus  was  their  mysterious  disappearance  ex- 
plained, this,  or  some  other  large  fish,  was  ac- 
countable for  the  brood's  diminution. 

While  on  the  subject  of  the  brass-eye  I  would 


228  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

wish  to  set  the  reader  right  in  regard  to  the 
whistling  noise  they  make,  that  is  the  male. 
The  author  of  "Wild  Fowl  and  Their  Habits" 
asserts  that  this  noise  is  made  by  their  snort 
sharp  wings  cutting  the  -air  in  rapid  flight. 
Were  this  the  case  the  female  would  make  the 
same  sound,  but  no  one  ever  heard  this  whistling 
from  a  lone  female  or  a  number  of  females. 

It  is  from  the  male  we  get  this;  not  from 
the  wings,  however,  but  from  a  gristly  sac  at- 
tached at  the  end  of  the  wind-pipe,  much  the 
shape  of  the  bag  of  the  bag-pipes.  From  this 
he  emits  several  different  kinds  of  sounds,  as  I 
have  often  listened  to  when  approaching  a  flock 
on  a  calm  moonlight  night  in  the  mating  season. 

Another  erroneous  assertion  by  the  same  au- 
thor is  that  the  flesh  is  rank,  fishy  and  hard. 
The  old  ones  are,  more  or  less  so,  on  their  first 
arrival  inland  in  the  spring.  At  the  sea,  as  a 
necessity,  they  live  on  fish,  but  a  month  after 
reaching  inland  waters,  where  they  feed  on  ma- 
rine plants  and  roots,  the  color  of  the  flesh 
changes.  It  also  becomes  juicy  and  is  as  good 
eating  as  black  duck  or  teal. 

The  young  ones,  when  full  fledged,  just  before 
migrating  to  the  sea  for  the  winter,  are  excel- 
lent. 

The    French-Canadians   call    this   duck    the 


GOOD   WAGES  TRAPPING.  229 

diver  and  the  half-breeds  of  Hudson  Bay  the 
pork  duck. 

All  the  tricks  of  hiding  attributed  to  this 
duck  by  Netlje  Blanchan,  author  of  the  book 
from  which  I  have  taken  the  several  names  un- 
der which  the  duck  is  known  to  American  read- 
ers, are  quite  true,  and  also  other  devices  not 
enumerated.  For  instance,  when  wounded  I 
have  known  it  to  dive  and  come  up  within  a  few 
yards  of  my  canoe  with  its  head  under  a  water- 
lily  leaf  and  there  remain,  quite  motionless,  un- 
til I  noticed  the  center  elevation  of  this  single 
leaf  and  fired  at  a  venture  with  the  result  that 
I  killed  the  duck. 

On  another  occasion  I  noticed  a  wounded 
brass-eye  making  toward  the  shore  in  very  shal- 
low water.  The  formation  of  the  banks  was 
such  that  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  land  and 
hide.  Nevertheless,  toward  that  shore  it  had 
dived,  and  never  appeared  above  water.  Push- 
ing the  canoe  quietly  along  with  my  gun  ready 
in  the  other  hand,  I  scanned  every  inch  as  I 
went.  Along  the  beach  there  was  a  solution  of 
mud  almost  as  light  as  the  water.  The  duck 
had  passed  under  this  and  came  to  the  shore  in 
about  five  inches  of  water  showing  nothing  but 
its  bill  on  the  beach,  the  entire  body  being  cov- 
ered with  mud,  the  exact  counterpart  of  that 
about  it. 


230  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

Although  my  canoe  was  within  six  feet  of 
the  bird,  it  never  moved,  and  it  was  only  by  the 
closest  scrutiny  that  I  detected  its  presence. 

With  a  good  silent  dog  playing  in  front  of  a 
blind  these  ducks  in  the  early  spring  will  come 
within  short  range,  as  will  the  black  duck  and 
gray  goose.  They  have  keen  eyesight  and  will 
work  in  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  investigate 
the  dog.  The  dog  of  best  color  to  attract  ducks 
is  yellow  or  yellow  and  white.  A  pure  white  is 
better  than  a  dark  colored,  which  latter  only  ap- 
pears to  scare  them  away. 

[This  is  an  interesting  contribution,  for  it 
brings  up  a  number  of  points  about  which  there 
has  been  more  or  less  controversy  in  the  past, 
and  one  at  least  which  is  new  to  us.  That  Mr. 
Hunter's  duck  brought  her  young  to  the  water 
in  her  bill  is  interesting  and  agrees  with  state- 
ments made  years  ago  in  Forest  and  Stream 
by  Mr.  George  A.  Boardman,  who  quoted  a 
Canadian  informant  as  stating  that  the  old 
birds  brought  their  young  from  the  nests  to  the 
water,  carrying  them  in  their  bills,  but  that  to 
transport  the  young  for  a  longer  distance,  the 
birds  carried  the  young  pressed  to  the  body  by 
the  feet,  a  description  which  is  not  altogether 
clear. 

Mr.  Hunter  declares  that  the  whistling  noise 
made  by  the  brass-eye  does  not  come  from  the 


THE  BRASS-EYED  DUCK.  231 

wings  and  that  this  noise  is  never  made  by  the 
female,  in  this  his  opinion  differs  from  that  of 
many  other  writers.     In  his  belief  the  labyrinth 

—  an  enlargement  of  the  wind-pipe  found  in  the 
male  of  most  ducks  and  but  seldom  in  the  female 

—  explains  the  whistling  sound  so  commonly 
heard  when  these  birds  fly  near  us. 

Food  notoriously  gives  flavor  to  the  flesh  of 
ducks  as  well  as  other  animals.  On  the  sea 
coast,  where  it  feeds  on  fish  and  perhaps  shell 
fish,  the  flesh  of  the  brass-eye  or  golden-wing  is 
notoriously  bad,  but  like  Mr.  Hunter,  other  au- 
thors have  declared  that  inland  the  bird  is  ex- 
cellent eating. 

The  observation  of  the  destruction  of  the 
brood  by  the  maskinong^  is  worth  recording. 
Pike,  pickerel,  maskinonge  and  snapping  turtles 
are  notorious  enemies  of  young  duck.] 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

GOOD  WAGES  TRAPPING. 

I  questioned  a  couple  of  hunters  (brothers) 
this  summer,  as  to  the  results  of  their  hunting 
adventures  of  the  past  season,  and  as  I  wanted 
to  find  out  their  positive  net  gains,  I  got  the 
following  figures  from  them. 

They  are  just  fairly  good  trappers  and  their 
success  is  about  what  two  industrious  men 
could  do  who  had  a  knowledge  of  trapping. 
Their  work  was  in  two  spells.  Three  months 
in  the  fall  and  early  winter  and  a  month  and 
a  half  in  spring. 

The  provisions  they  took  inland  for  the  three 
months  (ascending  one  of  the  North  Shore  riv- 
ers) was  the  following  with  costs  given:  160 
lbs.  pork,  120.00 ;  20  lbs.  butter,  |3.00 ;  860  lbs. 
flour,  $6.40;  6  lbs.  tea,  |2.10;  24  lbs.  sugar, 
$1.20;  2  lbs.  soda,  10  cts. ;  salt  and  pepjDer,  20 
cts.;  133.00. 

Their  canoe  was  pretty  well  laden  when 
they  left  the  coast,  inasmuch  as  besides  the 
foregoing  gross  weight  of  provisions  their  outfit 
of  tent,  axes,  pots,  kettles,  guns,  tracking  line, 

232 


GOOD  WAGES  TRAPPING.  233 

poling  irons,  four  dozen  No.  1  traps,  half  dozen 
No.  3  and  a  quarter  dozen  No.  5  bear  had  to  be 
added  to  the  load,  bringing  the  total  weight 
approximately  up  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds. 

Even  when  a  canoe  is  loaded  and,  at  times, 
overloaded,  yet  there  are  a  number  of  incident- 
als that  have  to  be  taken  along,  things  that 
weigh  and  are  bulky,  yet  are  not  considered  in 
the  estimate.  For  illustration  these  men  had 
yet  to  load  a  pair  and  a  half  of  blankets,  two 
pairs  snowshoes,  a  bag  of  extra  moccasins, 
socks,  duffle,  warm  underclothes,  extra  trousers, 
coats,  mits  and  a  hundred  and  one  other  things 
which  men  penetrating  the  wilderness  for  sev- 
eral months  may  require. 

In  an  expedition  like  this  one  must  not  think 
only  of  things  necessary,  but  also  things  that 
may  be  required  when  a  man  is  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  away  from  civilization  and  cuts 
his  leg.  He  has  no  drug  store  to  get  plaster 
from.  A  full  list  of  all  a  couple  of  prudent  men 
have  to  take  with  them  is  quite  interesting. 

To  resume,  —  these  men  left  on  the  10th  of 
October  and  got  back  to  the  coast  (on  foot)  the 
12th  of  January,  being  absent  almost  exactly  3 
months.  They  cached  their  traps,  canoe  and 
surplus  things  inland  ready  for  the  spring  hunt. 

After  spending  a  fortnight  with  their  fam- 


234  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ilies  cutting  wood  ana  choring  about  their 
abodes  they  then  went  to  work  in  the  lumber 
camps  for  February  and  March.  On  April  15th 
they  made  a  start  for  the  interior  once  more, 
this  time  each  hauling  a  flat  sled  loaded  in  equal 
weight  with  the  following  provisions:  80  lbs. 
pork,  flO.OO ;  10  lbs.  butter,  |1.50 ;  180  lbs.  flour, 
13.20;  3  lbs.  tea,  |1.05;  12  lbs.  sugar,  60  cts; 
1  lb.  soda,  5  cts. ;  salt  and  pepper,  10  cts ;  |16.50. 

With  their  other  things  this  made  a  dead 
weight  of  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds 
per  sled.  On  mixed  ice  and  bush  walking  at 
the  season  when  the  snow  is  crusted  a  man  will 
average,  with  such  a  load,  twenty-five  or  thirty 
miles  a  day. 

There  are  many  hunters  that  are  quite  su- 
perstitious about  parting  with  a  single  skin 
until  the  hunting  or  trapping  season  is  over  and 
then  the  whole  collection  is  sold  'en-blac'  Other 
hunters  again  will  sell  their  fall  hunts  less  a 
skin.  This  reserved  skin  may  be  only  a  mus- 
quash. They  keep  this,  as  they  say,  to  draw 
other  skins  when  next  they  go  trapping.  The 
men  I  am  writing  about  had  no  necessity  to  sell 
in  the  winter,  and  therefore  kept  all  till  the 
spring.  The  commencement  of  June  is  still  con- 
sidered spring  in  the  North  country. 

The  total  catch  and  the  prices  realized  are 
as  follows:   38  martens  at  |10,  |380;    10  mink 


GOOD  WAGES  TRAPPING.  235 

at  12.50,  |25 ;  1  beaver,  $7 ;  2  bears  at  |7,  |14 ; 
3  bears  at  $20,  |60;  4  fishers  at|7,  |28;  1  otter, 
|15 ;  120  musquash  at  15e,  |18 ;  amount,  |547.00. 

SUMMARY    OF    TRAPPING. 

By  total  hunt,  $547.00 ;  to  provisions,  |49.50 ; 
sundries,  70  ets;  2  men's  net  earnings  for  135 
days  at  |1.84  equals  |496.80. 

The  amount  per  diem  clear  to  each  of  the 
brothers  may  not  appear  to  the  reader  as  very 
remunerative,  yet  compared  to  working  in  the 
shanties  they  did  much  better.  The  wages  for 
good  axe  men  last  winter  were  from  eighteen 
to  twenty  dollars  per  month. 

Compared  with  the  same  length  of  time 
working  in  the  lumber  camps  the  figures  would 
stand  thus:  4|^  months  lumbering  at  average 
wages  of  $22  equals  $99;  4|  months  trapping, 
$248.40.  In  favor  of  trapping,  say  in  round  fig- 
ures $150.00. 

I  submit  the  foregoing  to  the  readers  of  H- 
T-T,  hoping  it  may  prove  interesting. 
«         *         « 

It  is  no  doubt  ancient  history,  still  it  may 
be  interesting  to  the  readers  to  know  the  large 
hunts  made  by  some  of  our  Indians  in  the  latter 
'60's.  Referring  to  a  note  book  kept  in  those 
days  I  find  the  hunt  of  one  particular  Indian 


236  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

recorded.    His  name  was  A-ta-so-kan  —  the  only 
help  he  had,  a  boy  of  twelve. 

This  family  left  the  Post  in  August  and  only 
returned  the  following  June.  His  hunting 
grounds  were  just  across  the  heights  of  lands 
going  towards  Hudson's  Bay,  from  the  head- 
waters of  the  Ottawa  River.  Game  of  all  de- 
scription was  very  plentiful  then;  so  much  so 
that,  providing  an  Indian  had  a  few  pounds  of 
flour  and  lard  to  get  away  from  the  vicinity  of 
the  station,  his  guns  nets  and  snares  kept  him 
in  abundance.  A-ta-so-kan,  altho  having  sev- 
eral children  besides  the  boy  took  only  fifty 
pounds  of  flour,  ten  pounds  of  lard,  one  pound 
of  tea,  and  ten  pounds  of  tobacco.  Goods,  how- 
ever, he  supplied  himself  well  with  —  such  as 
many  of  various  bright-colored  flannels,  yards 
of  duffle,  yards  of  H.  B.  strouds,  both  blue  and 
white,  and  several  pairs  of  H.  B.  wool  blankets. 
These  people  were  brought  up  on  country  pro- 
duce: i.  e.,  fish  and  flesh,  therefore  found  it  no 
hardship  to  be  without  flour,  etc.,  —  the  white 
man's  food.  From  that  one  nmn  and  his  young 
boy  I  got  at  the  end  of  the  hunting  season 
(first  of  June)   the  following  furs: 

96  Large  Beaver  Skins. 
226  Small  Beaver  Skins. 
32  Otters. 


GOOD  WAGES  TRAPPING.  237 

120  Martens. 
35  Minks. 
40  Lynxes. 
1236  Musquash. 

Making  altogether  four  of  our  eighty  pound 
packs  of  furs.  This,  of  course,  was  an  excep- 
tional hunt  —  still  we  had  several  other  Indians 
who  ran  A-ta-so-kan  a  close  second. 

What  a  difference  in  the  stretching  and  dry- 
ing of  that  man's  skins,  compared  with  those 
we  get  on  the  frontier.  Each  skin,  apart  from 
the  musquash,  was  as  clean  as  note  paper,  all 
killed  in  season  and  all  dried  in  the  frost  or 
shade.  On  the  line  of  civilization  there  is  such 
keen  competition  among  the  traders  to  get  furs, 
that  the  hunters  stretch  and  dry  the  skins  in 
any  way.  Beaver,  for  instance,  which  is  bought 
by  the  pound,  is  frequently  weighted  with  syrup, 
and  sand  rubbed  into  the  hair  and  paws,  and 
considerable  flesh  left  on,  all  tells  when  three 
or  four  dollars  a  pound  is  paid. 

The  Abanakis  Indians  about  St.  Francis 
Lake,  St.  Peter,  are  noted  for  their  tricks  of 
the  trade,  and  when  you  get  a  blue-eyed  Aba- 
nakis, look  out  to  be  cheated.  I  call  to  mind  on 
the  St.  Maurice  River,  when  stationed  there, 
one  of  these  gents  brought  furs  to  sell  at  our 
Post.     Among  the  lot  was  a  beaver  skin.     Ac- 


238  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

cording  to  its  size,  if  well  dressed,  it  ought  to 
have  weighed  a  pound  and  a  half,  or  three  quar- 
ters at  most.  Judge  of  my  surprise  when  I 
found  it  tipped  the  scales  at  two  and  half 
pounds.  This  was  phenomenal  and  uncanny, 
and  I  remarked  to  the  hunter,  that  we  would 
leave  the  skins  in  the  store  until  after  dinner 
before  closing  the  trade. 

During  the  mid-day  hour  I  slipped  out  and 
examined  the  skin  critically,  and  found  the 
rascal  had  flinched  up  layers  of  the  inner  skin 
or  "cutem,"  and  had  inserted  small  sheets  of 
tea-chest  lead,  after  which  he  had  pressed  the 
skin  down  flat  and  dried  it  in  this  state.  This 
was  insult  added  to  injury,  because  about  a 
month  previous  he  had  begged  the  lead  from  me 
to  make  bullets  with.  Verily  there  are  more 
tricks  with  horses  and  furs  than  meets  the  eye. 


CHAPTEK   XXXII. 

A    PARD    NECESSARY. 

T  say  for  safety,  successful  hunting,  and  di- 
vision of  the  many  necessary  labors,  when  the 
hunting  or  trapping  day  is  over,  a  proper  part- 
ner is  necessary.  I  am  aware  many  old  hunt- 
ers have  passed  years  quite  alone  in  the  solitude 
of  the  trackless  forests  and  the  valleys  of  the 
mountain  ranges,  but  what  a  life!  What  risks 
they  have  run!  Some  may  have  led  this  life 
from  choice  or  from  greed  to  possess  the  whole 
proceeds  of  the  trapping  season ;  still  it  is  a  life 
no  man  should  lead. 

Sickness  rarely  overtakes  a  trapper;  the 
outdoor  life  they  practice  is  conducing  to  good 
health;  continual  exercise  and  fresh  air  engen- 
der a  good  appetite,  but  there  is  always  the  risk 
of  accident,  accident  in  many  ways.  The  guns, 
the  axe,  the  canoe,  breaking  through  the  ice,  or 
even  getting  caught  in  one  of  his  own  traps ;  in 
fact  by  the  last  mentioned  source  of  danger  I 
have  known  two  men  to  lose  their  lives  in  a 
most  horrible  way  of  torture  and  agony,  and 
these  men  were  not  novices  at  the  business ;  one 

239 


240  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

was  a  middle-aged  half-breed,  born  and  brought 
up  to  trapping,  and  the  other  was  an  old  Nova 
Seotian  who  had  trapped  and  hunted  for  forty 
years  and  yet  he  died  in  a  bear  trap. 

Man  was  not  intended  to  live  alone,  and  a 
trapper  who  passes  the  best  part  of  his  life  far 
away  from  his  fellow  man  becomes  selfish, 
crabbed  and  morose.  No  matter  how  successful 
he  may  have  been  in  his  hunting  years,  when 
old  age  comes  on,  his  last  moments  are  gener- 
ally passed  alone  in  some  miserable  shanty,  cov- 
ered with  dirty  and  musty  old  clothes  and  blan- 
kets, no  one  to  pass  him  a  drink  of  water  or 
wipe  the  death  sweat  from  his  brow,  or  else 
some  good  person  on  the  fringe  of  civilization, 
partly  from  charity  or  necessity,  takes  in  the 
broken  old  hulk  and  keeps  him  until  the  end. 
A  grave  somewhere  outside  the  fence  is  pointed 
out  as  where  "Old  Pierre,"  the  trapper,  is 
buried.  I  have  several  such  resting  places  in 
v^  mind  as  I  pen  these  lines. 

No,  I  maintain  a  companion  in  hunting  and 
trapping  is  a  necessity  in  many  ways.  In  se- 
lecting one  they  should  be  alike  in  only  two 
points  —  age  and  honesty.  If  the  head  of  the 
partnership  is  short,  stout  and  of  a  phlegmatic 
nature,  his  chum  ought  to  be  say  five  feet  ten 
inches  high,  weigh  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds,  of  a  nervous  energetic  nature  and  cheer- 


A   PARD  NECESSARY.  241 

ful.  Two  such  men  are  most  likely  to  get  along 
well  together. 

Animals  don't  come  to  the  camp  door  and 
ask  to  be  skinned.  On  the  contrary  trapping, 
to  do  it  right,  is  hard  work  and  when  the  real 
day's  work  of  tramping  through  swamps  and 
over  mountains  setting  traps  is  done  there  is 
yet  much  work  for  the  cold,  wet  and  hungry  men 
to  do  at  the  camp;  cutting  and  carrying  the 
night's  fire  wood,  cooking  their  supper,  drying 
their  clothes  for  the  morrow,  patching  broken 
moccasins  and  skinning  and  stretching  pelts 
they  may  have  secured  that  day.  With  a  good 
pard  these  labors  are,  of  course,  divided,  and 
each  cheerfully  and  silently  takes  his  share. 

There  is  nothing  I  have  enumerated  but 
what  has  to  be  done  every  night.  A  trapper 
returns  to  his  camp,  and  if  he  has  to  make  a 
new  camp  at  the  end  of  his  trail  so  much  more 
and  harder  is  the  work,  and  the  poor  old  trap- 
per without  a  companion  must,  of  necessity?; 
perform  all  these  duties  alone,  the  completion 
of  which  takes  him  far  into  the  night.  Brother 
trappers,  I  know  whereof  I  write.  I  have  tried 
both  and  I  say  for  division  of  labor,  for  good 
comradeship  and  for  positive  safety  select  and 
join  fortune  with  "A  Good  Pard." 

To  illustrate,  I  give  one  of  my  own  experi- 

16 


242  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ences :  I  reached  my  camp  once  at  dark  in  Feb- 
ruaryj  utterly  tired  out,  wet  by  the  melting  snow 
on  my  clothes,  and  a  fast  that  had  not  been 
broken  at  noon.  There  were  a  few  burnt  sticks 
in  the  fireplace  (a  lean  to  camp),  these  1  raked 
together  and  started  a  blaze.  With  my  exces- 
sive fatigue  and  the  warmth  of  the  fire,  I  fell 
asleep  as  I  leaned  for  what  I  thought  was  a  mo- 
ment, against  a  stump  in  the  camp.  It  was  a 
dispensation  of  Providence  that  I  ever  awoke, 
but  I  did,  far  into  that  February  night.  On 
waking  I  realized  in  a  moment  the  narrow  es- 
cape that  I  had  had.  The  great  trees  of  the 
forest  were  cracking  all  about  me  with  the  in- 
tensity of  the  cold.  My  wet  clothes  were  stick- 
ing to  me  as  if  of  ice,  but  my  brain  was  clear 
and  I  knew  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  my  self- 
preservation. 

After  tramping  about  and  beating  my  body 
for  some  time  to  create  circulation,  I  was  re- 
warded by  feeling  my  blood  flow  once  more  in  a 
natural  way.  The  last  quarter  of  the  moon  shed 
what  light  it  could  over  the  tree  tops  and  I 
strapped  on  my  snowshoes  and  went  to  work  at 
chopping  wood  to  last  till  morning.  A  good 
cup  of  tea,  some  biscuit  and  pork  and  the  then 
bright  and  cheerful  fire  made  me  my  old  self, 
but  I  received  a  lesson  never  to  be  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

AN    HEROIC   ADVENTURE. 

When  we  had  come  to  anchor  in  Trinity  Bay 
and  all  the  sails  were  safely  stowed,  the  captain 
of  our  yacht  proposed  we  should  go  ashore  and 
see  the  celebrated  Comeau  ftls. 

Bob,  my  companion  asked,  "Celebrated  for 
what?" 

"Oh!  for  several  things,"  replied  the  cap- 
tain. "He  is  a  most  extraordinary  man  in  his 
many  acquirements  and  knowledge.  Born  and 
brought  up  on  this  coast,  he  has  passed  all  his 
life  here,  with  the  exception  of  the  three  years 
his  father  was  able  to  send  him  to  school,  but 
those  three  years  he  made  use  of  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  a  wonderfhl  store  of  practical  knowl- 
edge. His  schooling,  as  I  have  said,  was  but 
the  foundation;  by  reading  and  observation  he 
has  added  to  it  in  a  marvelous  way. 

"Prom  his  early  training  and  the  life  of 
every  one  on  the  coast,  it  would  go  without  say- 
ing that  he  knows  how  to  shoot,  but  he  is  more 
than  a  good  shot,  he  is  a  'deadly'  shot.  Any- 
thing he  aims  his  gun  at  that  is  withm  shooting 

243 


244        .  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

distance  is  dead.  As  a  salmon  fislier,  no  crack 
angler  who  visits  these  rivers  can  hope  to  com- 
pete with  him. 

As  a  linguist  he  can  speak,  read  and  write 
in  French,  English,  Latin  and  Indian;  besides 
this,  he  can  talk  rapidly  in  the  dumb  alphabet. 
He  holds  the  position  of  telegraph  operator  at 
Trinity,  also  of  postmaster  and  fishery  overseer, 
and  besides,  when  anything  goes  wrong  with  the 
line  for  two  hundred  miles  east  or  west,  the  de- 
partment immediately  wires  him  to  go  and  fix 
them  up. 

"He  has  more  than  a  fair  knowledge  of  med- 
icine for  one  who  derived  all  his  insight  from 
reading  alone.  Last  summer  there  was  an  epi- 
demic of  measles  all  along  the  coast,  among  both 
whites  and  Indians.  Here,  with  a  population 
of  150,  two-thirds  of  whom  were  down  Comeau, 
who  attended  them,  did  not  lose  one  patient, 
while  at  Bersimis,  where  the  department  sent  a 
full-fledged  M.  D.,  there  were  thirty-nine  burials 
out  of  a  population  of  450. 

"You  may  be  sure  the  poor  people  all  along 
the  coast  love  him." 

So  the  boat  was  lowered  awa^'^,  and  the  Cap- 
tain, Bob  and  I  were  rowed  ashore  to  see  this 
paragon.  From  the  outside  look  of  the  place  I 
could  see  the  man  was  one  of  good  taste  and 
orderly.     The  knock  at  the  door  was  answered 


AN   HEROIC  ADVENTURE.  245 

by  Comeau  himself.  The  Captain  was  person- 
ally acquainted  with  him  and  introduced  us  be- 
fore we  entered.  I  must  say  I  was  disap- 
pointed. One  always  is  when  he  has  pictured  a 
person  in  his  mind's  eye  and  finds  that  in  real- 
ity he  is  quite  a  different  kind  of  person. 

I  had  looked  for  Comeau  to  be  a  large  man 
and  a  boisterous  one  from  his  position  of  super- 
iority over  others.  On  the  contrary,  I  found 
him  below  the  medium,  a  quiet,  low-voiced  man, 
reserved  almost  to  shyness.  I  saw  at  once  he 
was  a  great  observ^er,  one  who  would  make  de- 
ductions from  specks  invisible  to  ordinary  peo- 
ple; or,  in  other  words,  he  could  put  two  and 
two  together  and  dovetail  them  better  than  most 
men. 

We  were  ushered  into  a  large,  clean,  airy 
room,  in  the  middle  of  which  sat  a  very  good 
looking  lady  in  a  roomy  rocker,  with  a  child  on 
each  knee.  If  Comeau  himself  is  reserved  and 
not  inclined  to  talk,  his  wife  can  do  enough  for 
both.  She  excused  herself  for  not  rising  when 
her  husband  introduced  us.  Nodding  down  at 
her  babies,  she  said,  "You  see  I  am  fixed."  One 
could  see  she  is  a  proud  mother  —  they  are 
twins;  this  she  told  us  before  we  were  well 
seated,  and  she  further  informed  us  that  they 
were  the  only  twins  on  the  Labrador.  So  she  is 
celebrated  also. 


246  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

When  we  got  fairly  settled  in  Comeau's  den, 
the  conversation  naturally  drifted  into  hunting 
and  fishing.  Bob  made  some  intjuiries  about 
the  pools  on  the  Trinity.  To  make  his  explana- 
tions clear,  Comeau  pulled  out  a  drawer  of  pho- 
tographic views  of  the  river.  In  rummaging 
these  over,  he  cast  aside  a  gold  medal.  "Excuse 
me,"  I  said,  reaching  over  and  taking  up  the 
medal.     On  it  I  read  engraved : 

"Presented  to  N.  A.  Comeau  by  the  K.  H.  S. 
FOR  Bravery  in  Saving  Life. 

Upon  my  asking  him  to  recount  the  circum- 
stances, he  blushed  and  looked  quite  confused, 
and  said:  "Oh!  it  was  nothing  worth  speaking 
of,  but  I  suppose  people  talked  so  much  about 
it  that  they  gave  me  that  token.  It  was  noth- 
ing more  than  any  man  would  have  done,"  and 
this  was  all  we  could  get  from  him  unless  we 
had  carried  persistency  to  an  ungentlemanly  de- 
gree. 

After  having  spent  a  very  pleasant  hour,  we 
returned  on  board,  and  the  Captain  told  us  the 
story  that  the  hero  himself  would  not : 

Two  years  before,  one  day  in  January  Co- 
meau arrived  home  from  the  back  country  to 
find  that  two  men  had  that  day  while  seal  hunt- 
ing off  shore  been  driven  off  the  coast  toward 
the  ice  pack  in  the  gulf.     One  of  the  men  was 


AN   HEROIC  ADVENTURE.  247 

Comeau's  own  brother-in-law,  and  the  other  a 
half-breed.  In  spite  of  the  supplications  of  his 
wife  and  the  persuasions  of  the  other  individ- 
uals of  the  place,  Comeau  set  about  prepara- 
tions to  follow  them  out  to  sea.  He  asked  no 
one  to  accomi^any  him. 

The  wind  all  the  afternoon  had  been  steadily 
off  shore  and  was  now  moderately  calm.  He 
took  with  him  some  restoratives,  provisions,  a 
lantern,  a  couple  of  blankets,  his  rifle  and  am- 
munition and  what  else  useful  he  could  think 
of  in  his  hurry.  The  ice  pack  was  then  about 
ten  mil^s  off  the  land,  and  he  reasoned  the  men 
must  be  on  the  ice,  if  large  and  strong  enough, 
or  in  among  it  if  in  small  cakes,  the  latter  being 
much  more  dangerous. 

From  Trinity  to  Matane  in  a  direct  line  the 
distance  is  forty-five  miles,  and  to  push  out  in  a 
frail,  wooden  canoe  alone  and  the  darkness 
coming  on  in  the  black  gulf  in  mid-winter  re- 
quired a  brave  man  with  extraordinary  nerve  to 
dare  it,  and  this  Comeau  did. 

Three  minutes  after  pushing  out  from  the 
beach,  canoe  and  man  were  swallowed  up  in  the 
darkness.  The  next  the  people  of  Trinity  heard 
of  him  was  a  telegraphic  message  on  the  second 
day  after.  It  read:  "Matane.  All  three  alive. 
Joseph,  hands  frozen;  Simon,  both  feet  frozen 
badly." 


248  ■         CANADIAN  WILDS. 

This  message  was  to  his  family,  but  the  Ma- 
tane  people  sent  a  much  longer  one  to  the  gov- 
ernment, giving  the  facts,  describing  the  hard- 
ships these  men  had  come  through,  and  a  spe- 
cial train  was  sent  down  with  the  best  surgeon 
from  Quebec.  On  the  surgeon's  arrival  at  Ma- 
tane  a  consultation  was  held  with  the  county 
practitioner,  when  it  was  decided  that  the  man 
Joseph  would  have  to  lose  two  fingers  on  each 
hand  and  Simon  both  feet. 

The  amputation  was  successfully  carried  out 
next  day,  and  shortly  after,  when  Comeau  saw 
both  men  well  on  to  recovery,  he  started  for  his 
home,  not,  however,  by  the  way  he  had  come, 
but  up  to  Quebec  by  the  south  shore  and  down 
the  north  shore  from  Quebec,  a  distance  of  near- 
ly 700  miles.  The  last  hundred  he  made  on 
snowshoes. 

The  Captain  told  us  that  the  description  of 
this  very  venturesome  trip  he  had  heard  from 
Comeau's  own  brother  as  the  elder  one  had  de- 
scribed it  in  the  heart  of  his  own  family.  He 
had  reached  the  ice  pack,  to  the  best  of  his  judg- 
ment, about  fifteen  miles  from  the  land,  and  had 
remained  on  his  oars  and  hallowed  once  or  twice 
without  receiving  an  answer.  He  suddenly  be- 
thought himself  of  the  lantern.  This  he  lit  and 
lashed  to  the  blade  of  one  of  his  oars,  and 
erected  it  aloft.     Immediately  a  faint  cry  was 


AN   HEROIC  ADVENTURE.  249 

heard  to  the  eastward,  and  he  lowered  his  light 
and  pulled  away  in  the  direction  whence  the 
call  appeared  to  come.  After  rowing  for  a 
short  time  the  lantern  was  waved  above  again, 
and  this  time  an  answering  shout  came  from 
close  at  hand. 

The  two  poor  fellows  were  some  distance  in 
the  pack,  and  had  got  on  the  largest  cake  they 
could  find.  They  were  sitting  there  helpless, 
holding  on  each  by  one  hand  to  the  rough  sur- 
face of  the  ice,  and  with  the  other  to  their  canoe 
to  keep  it  from  being  washed  off. 

By  the  aid  of  the  lantern  held  aloft,  Comeau 
saw  there  was  a  much  larger  cake  of  ice  some 
distance  further  in  the  pack.  To  this  they 
made  their  way  with  laborious  trouble.  Push- 
ing one  canoe  as  far  ahead  among  the  ice  as  pos- 
sible, they  would  all  three  get  into  this,  shove 
the  other  in  advance  in  the  same  way,  and  so 
repeating  the  process  till  they  reached  the  solid 
field.  Once  safely  on  this,  for  the  meantime, 
secure  place,  food  was  partaken  of  and  daylight 
waited  for. 

Soon,  however,  the  intense  cold  began  to 
make  itself  felt,  and  drowsiness  was  fast  taking 
hold  of  the  two  men,  and  their  great  wish  was 
to  be  left  alone  and  allowed  to  sleep.  This 
Comeau  knew  if  indulged  meant  death,  and  it 
took  all  his  efforts  to  keep  them  awake  and  mov- 


250  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ing  about.  Once  while  attending  to  the  half- 
breed,  his  brother-in-law  dropped  down  and 
was  fast  asleep  in  an  instant.  Comeaii  boxed 
him,  kicked  him,  without  having  the  desired  ef- 
fect of  rousing  him  from  his  stupor.  At  last  he 
bethought  him  of  what  an  old  Indian  had  done 
to  him  under  somewhat  similar  circumstances. 
He  caught  the  man's  nose  between  the  thumb 
and  finger  and  tweaked  it  severelv.  This 
brought  him  to  his  feet  and  mad  to  fight. 

Day  was  now  breaking,  and  they  could  see 
the  south  shore  at  a  computed  distance  of  ten 
miles.  Comeau  also  saw  that  the  ice  pack  was 
drifting  steadily  east,  and  this,  if  they  remained 
on  the  ice,  would  carry  them  past  Cap  Chat, 
the  most  northern  point  of  the  south  coast,  and 
this  meant  death  to  a  certainty. 

A  rapid  train  of  thought  went  through  Co- 
meau's  brain.  He  decided  that  if  saved  they 
were  to  be,  it  must  be  by  passing  over  that  ten 
miles  of  moving,  grinding  ice.  He  forced  some 
food  on  the  others  and  gave  each  a  small  dram 
of  spirits ;  how  much  rather  would  he  have  given 
them  tea  or  coffee.  But  even  if  he  had  had  it, 
water  was  wanting  to  make  it.  They  aban- 
doned the  roll  of  blankets,  which  had  been  of  no 
use  to  them,  and  started,  using  the  canoes  see- 
saw fashion  as  they  had  done  the  night  before. 
They  left  the  cake  of  ice  upon  which  they  had 


AN  HEROIC  ADVENTURE.  251 

passed  the  night  at  8  A.  M.  and  only  got  ashore 
at  the  extreme  point  of  Cap  Chat  at  daylight 
next  morning.  At  times  they  would  come 
across  narrow  lanes  of  water,  but  these  lanes 
always  ran  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  in 
which  they  were  going.  Several  times,  when 
stepping  upon  what  was  considered  a  strong 
piece  of  ice,  one  of  the  party  would  be  immersed 
in  the  cold,  cruel  water,  and  be  rescued  with 
great  trouble,  and  danger  to  the  others. 

What  a  picture  of  heartfelt  prayer  offering 
it  must  have  been,  to  have  seen  those  men  kneel- 
ing on  the  ice-bound  shore,  pouring  out  their 
thanks  to  the  ever-watchful  Almighty  who  had 
brought  them  safely  through  such  dangers. 


Bob,  who  had  taken  down  the  Captain's  nar- 
rative in  shorthand,  gave  me  his  notes,  and  I 
give  the  story  of  adventure  and  heroism  to  the 
public. 

Comeau  is  well  known  by  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Forest  and  Stream  clubs  of  New 
York  and  Montreal. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

WILD   OXEN. 

I  read  in  one  of  the  May  issues  of  Forest 
and  Stream  of  a  dog  that  joined  a  band  of 
wolves  and  became  as  savage  and  fleet  of  foot 
as  the  best  of  them,  and  brought  to  my  mind  a 
circumstance  that  came  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, of  a  pair  of  steers  that  threw  off  all  tram- 
mels of  restraint  and  took  to  the  bush. 

I  think  it  is  worth  recording,  for  it  shows 
that  even  horned  cattle  brought  up  Avith  care, 
and  fed  at  regular  intervals  can  support  them- 
selves, even  through  the  rigor  of  a  northern  win- 
ter in  the  wild  bush  country. 

In  my  early  days  on  the  Labrador  we  were 
in  the  habit  of  getting  our  winter  beef  on  the 
hoof  from  the  villages  on  the  south  shore.  The 
cattle  were  sent  over  by  schooner,  late  in  the 
fall,  and  stall-fed  until  the  cold  weather  set  in, 
when  they  were  killed  and  the  carcasses  hung 
up  to  freeze.  As  we  had  no  wharf  accommo- 
dation, the  cattle  were  unloaded  in  a  primitive 
and  unceremonious  way.  The  schooner  an- 
chored two  or  three  hundred  yards  from  the 

252 


WILD  OXEN.  253 

shore.  The  cattle  sided  up  alongside  the  rail 
next  the  beach,  and  a  couple  of  sailors  intro- 
duced hand  spikes  under  the  animal's  body,  the 
end  engaging  the  top  of  the  rail.  At  the  word 
"Go"  the  beasts  were  hurled  sideways  into  the 
water.  Rising  to  the  surface,  after  the  plunge, 
they  naturally  struck  out  for  the  shore,  where 
we  had  men  with  short  ropes  ready  to  secure 
them  and  lead  them  away  to  the  stable. 

On  the  occasion  upon  which  I  write  we  had 
a  consignment  of  five  three-year-old  steers,  the 
meat  of  which,  augmented  by  the  usual  game  of 
the  country,  was  considered  sufficient  for  the 
post's  use  during  the  following  winter. 

Two  of  the  bunch  reached  footing  in  such  a 
lively  state  that  they  baffled  the  combined  efforts 
of  our  men  to  capture  them,  and  with  a  few  de- 
fiant snorts  and  bounds,  they  reached  the  primi- 
tive forest  and  were  lost  to  view. 

As  soon  as  I  realized  that  there  was  a  possi- 
bility of  the  animals  being  lost  to  us,  I  turned 
out  all  the  'hangers  on"  about  the  post,  with 
our  own  men  in  hot  pursuit.  Night  coming  on 
shortly  after,  the  hunt  was  given  up,  only  to  be 
resumed  with  greater  energy  the  following  day; 
but  the  nature  of  the  ground  being  hard,  hoof 
marks  were  indistinguishable,  and  to  use  dogs 
would  only  make  the  cattle  wilder.  Once  more 
the  men  had  to  reluctantly  abandon  the  search 


254  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

and  return  to  the  post,  and  although  we  kept 
up  the  hunt  for  several  days  more,  we  failed  to 
locate  the  missing  "meat." 

In  due  course  of  time,  snow  covered  the 
ground,  and  men  circled  the  bush  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  post  without  any  results,  and  we  had  un- 
willingly to  place  the  two  steers  on  our  profit 
and  loss  account. 

Time  went  on,  the  winter  passed,  and  the 
summer  also,  and  none  of  the  visiting  Indians 
reported  any  signs  of  the  cattle. 

The  following  winter,  in  February,  a  party 
of  hunters  came  in  from  the  headwaters  of  the 
Moisie  River,  150  miles  north  of  us,  and  they 
reported  having  killed  our  cattle  among  a  small 
herd  of  wood  caribou.  To  prove  their  story  they 
produced  the  horns  which  they  had  brought 
down  all  those  miles  on  their  toboggans  as 
visible  proof. 

The  report  they  gave  me  was  as  follows: 
They  had  come  across  the  tracks  of  this  small 
bunch  of  caribou  (five)  with  which  the  oxen 
were  living  in  consort,  sometime  in  early  De- 
cember. The  animals  winded  them  and  the 
hunters  failed  to  sight  the  herd. 

As  the  snow  was  yet  shallow,  they  left  them 
unmolested  until  after  the  New  Year,  when  the 
men  from  the  nearby  camps  organized  a  hunt 
expressly  to  run  them  down. 


WILD  OXEN.  255 

From  hearsay  they  thought  the  strange 
tracks  were  those  of  moose,  and  were  very  much, 
surprised  when  the  herd  was  sighted  to  find 
they  were  horned  cattle,  and  at  once  concluded 
(and  very  correctly)  that  they  were  the  long  lost 
cattle. 

The  chief  informed  me  they  were  so  fleet  of 
foot  that  the  five  deer  were  come  up  with  and 
killed  before  they  overtook  the  steers,  which 
were  rolling  fat,  sleek  of  coat  and  had  an  under 
growth  of  wool  such  as  the  deer  had,  showing 
that  under  different  circumstances  nature  had 
given  them  this  protection  against  the  severity 
of  the  climate. 

I  hardly  think  I  would  have  credited  their 
story  with  the  proof,  and  further,  the  next  sum- 
mer, when  they  came  in  to  trade  on  the  coast, 
they  brought  me  a  piece  of  the  thigh  skin  of 
each  animal.  Verily  these  oxen  had  a  call  from 
the  wild  and  took  it  and  became  as  one  with 
the  denizens  of  the  bush. 

Reading  of  the  dog  that  fraternized  and 
went  off  with  the  wolves  brought  this  to  my  mind 
after  a  lapse  of  forty-one  years. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

LONG   LAKE   INDIANS. 

The  two  years  I  passed  in  charge  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Post  of  Long  Lake,  situated  on  the 
water-shed  between  Lake  Superior  and  Hud- 
son's Bay,  was  the  happiest  of  any  period  of  my 
long  service. 

The  conclusion  I  have  arrived  at,  after  con- 
siderable experience,  is  that  Christianizing,  in 
no  matter  what  form,  has  only  made  the  Indian 
worse. 

It  is  the  verdict  of  all  who  have  had  to  do 
with  the  red  man,  that  he  copies  all  of  the  white 
man's  vices  and  very  few,  if  any,  of  his  virtues. 

Indians  I  found  at  Long  Lake,  in  the  mid- 
dle seventies,  were  Pagans,  but  they  were  hon- 
est, truthful  and  virtuous. 

We  locked  our  tradeshop,  not  to  prevent  rob- 
bery, simply  to  guard  against  the  door  being 
blown  open.  Not  one  of  these  Indians  would 
have  taken  a  pin  without  showing  it  to  me  first 
and  saying :  "I  am  going  to  keep  this,"  holding 
up  the  pin. 

My  predecessor  had  been  stationed  at  that 

256 


LONG   LAKE    INDIANS.  257 

post  in  an  unbroken  charge  of  over  twenty 
years'.  He  was  a  man  of  system  and  everything 
went  by  rote.  There  were  certain  fixed  dates 
for  out-fitting  the  hunters;  certain  dates  for 
those  short  of  ammunition  to  come  and  get  it  in 
the  winter;  and,  best  of  all,  certain  dates  for 
them  to  arrive  in  the  spring  and  close  their 
hunts.  This  assured  us  of  getting  only  prime, 
seasoned  skins,  and  such  skins  it  was  a  pleasure 
to  handle,  since  the  paper  upon  which  this  is 
printed  is  not  whiter  than  every  skin  that  passed 
thru  my  hands  in  those  two  years. 

I  am  writing  of  the  days  before  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  passed  thru  that  country  when 
there  were  no  whiskey  peddlers  going  about  de- 
moralizing the  Indians.  There  being  no  oppo- 
sition we  regulated  the  catch  of  furs.  When 
Ave  found,  by  general  report  of  the  hunters,  that 
a  certain  kind  of  fur  was  becoming  scarce,  we 
lowered  the  price  for  that  particular  animal's 
pelt  so  low  as  to  not  make  it  worth  their  while 
to  trap  it.  For  instance,  while  I  was  there,  the 
beaver  was  having  our  protection,  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, in  three  years  every  little  pond  or 
creek  became  stocked  with  beaver.  The  Indian 
hunter  did  not  suffer,  because  we  paid  the  most 
liberal  prices  for  the  skins  that  were  most  plen- 
tiful.    This  policy,  however,  could  only  be  car- 

17 


258  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

ried  out  at  places  where  there  was  no  compe- 
tition. 

The  gentleman  in  charge  was  the  representa- 
tive of  the  "Great  Company"  and  what  he  said 
was  law.  Our  interests  and  those  of  the  In- 
dians ran  on  parallel  lines. 

It- was  to  our  interest  to  see  all  that  the  In- 
dian required  should  be  of  the  very  best.  That 
he  should  have  good,  strong,  warm  clothing, 
good  ammunition  and  double-tower  proved  guns 
was  essential  to  his  ability  to  hunt,  his  comfort 
and  his  very  life. 

It  was  drilled  into  the  hunters  at  each  yearly 
send  off,  that  if  he  did  not  exert  himself  to  hunt 
sufficient  to  pay  the  advances  given  him,  that 
the  "Great  Father"  would  riot,  or  could  not, 
send  goods  for  the  next  year. 

It  was  explained  to  them  that  their  furs 
were  bartered  in  far  off  countries  for  other  new 
guns,  blankets,  twine,  capots,  duffle,  copper  ket- 
tles and  other  wants  of  the  Indians.  As  we 
wanted  the  hunters  to  be  well  clothed  and  sup- 
plied with  necessaries  we  imported  no  such  use- 
less trash  as  the  frontier  posts  were  obliged  to 
keep  to  cope  with  the  free  traders. 

If  an  Indian  took  a  four  point  H.  B.  blanket, 
even  with  the  rough  usage  it  was  subjected  to, 
it  would  keep  him  and  his  wife  warm  for  a  year. 
The  next  season,  a  new  one  being  bought,  the 


LONG  LAKE    INDIANS.  259 

old  one  did  service  for  another  winter  as  lining 
for  mittens,  strips  for  socks,  and  leggings  for 
the  younger  branches. 

Steel  traps  being  dear  twenty-five  years  ago, 
and  the  long  canoe  transport  being  costly  so  far 
into  the  interior,  we  did  not  import  them  very 
largely. 

Bears,  martens,  minks  and  even  beaver  and 
otter  were  killed  in  deadfalls;  and  with  differ- 
ent sizes  of  twine,  the  Indians  snared  rabbits, 
lynx,  and,  in  the  spring,  even  the  bear. 

The  Indians  principal,  and  I  may  say,  only 
tools  for  hunting  and  for  his  support  were  his 
axe,  ice  chisel,  twine  and  his  gun.  I  mention 
the  gun  last  because  the  hunter  only  used  it  for 
caribou  and  moose,  ducks  and  geese.  Ammuni- 
tion was  too  costly  to  use  it  for  anything  that 
could  be  trapped  or  snared. 

A  life  chief  was  elected  by  the  Indians  them- 
selves, and  he  was  supported  in  his  management 
of  the  tribe  by  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  post. 
The  chief  had  precedence  in  being  outfitted,  his 
canoe  headed  the  fleet  of  canoes  on  arriving  at 
the  post  in  the  spring,  and  was  the  one  to  lead 
off  in  the  autumn.  His  was  the  only  pack  of 
furs  carried  up  from  the  beach,  by  our  men,  to 
the  store,  and  he  set  the  example  to  his  young 
men  by  being  the  first  to  pay  his  last  year's  ad- 
vances.   To  him  we  gave,  as  a  present,  a  new 


260  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

suit  of  black  cloth  clothes,  boots,  hat,  etc.,  and 
to  his  wife  a  bright  tartan  wool  dress  piece,  and 
a  tartan  shawl  of  contrasting  pattern. 

Our  currency,  or  medium  of  trade,  was 
called  "Made  Beaver,"  equivalent  in  most  arti- 
cles to  a  dollar.  The  value  of  each  skin  was 
computed  in  "Made  Beaver."  For  every  hun- 
dred of  "Made  Beaver"  of  skins  that  the  Indian 
brought  in  we  allowed  him  as  a  gratuity 
"Called  Rum,"  ten  "Made  Beaver,"  lie  was  at 
liberty,  after  paying  his  debt,  to  trade  whatever 
he  fancied  out  of  the  shop  to  the  extent  of  his 
"Rum."  But  unless  he  paid  his  debt  in  full  the 
"Rum"  he  was  entitled  to  went  towards  his  ac- 
count. This,  however,  seldom  happened,  be- 
cause one  that  did  not  pay  his  debt  in  full  was 
looked  down  upon  by  his  friends,  and  his  sup- 
plies for  the  next  year  were  reduced  in  propor- 
tion to  his  deficiency. 

What  a  change  has  taken  place  in  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century.  I  hear  from  the  person 
now  in  charge  of  that  post  (it  is  kept  up  prin- 
cipally now  to  protect  our  further  interior  post) 
that  all  those  Indians  are  dead  and  gone.  Their 
descendants  number  scarcely  one-third  of  the 
original  band.  They  are  thieves,  drunkards 
and  liars  as  a  rule ;  the  white  man's  diseases  and 
fire-water  have  left  their  trail.  White  trappers 
have  penetrated  their  country  in  all  directions 


LONG   LAKE    INDIANS.  261 

from  the  line  of  railway  and  exterminated  most 
of  the  fur-bearing  animals.  Instead  of,  as  their 
forefathers,  getting  a  good  supply  of  all  neces- 
sary articles  to  assure  them  of  comfort  for  a 
year,  these,  their  sons  and  grandsons,  can  get 
no  one  to  risk  advancing  them.  They  live  prin- 
cipally, now,  on  fish  and  when  they  do  succeed 
in  killing  a  skin,  the  most  likely  thing  to  hap- 
pen is,  they  will  travel  many  miles  to  barter  it 
for  whiskey. 

This  is  one  of  the  results  of  railways  and 
civilization.  I  can  say  with  the  late  lamented 
Custei'  "The  good  Indians  are  dead." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

DEN   BEARS. 

A  phase  of  hunting  that  I  do  not  remember 
ever  seeing  described  in  the  H-T-T  is  of  track- 
ing bears  to  their  den  and  killing  them  there. 
The  two  seasons  that  this  mode  of  hunting  is 
resorted  to  by  the  Indians  is  after  the  first  fall 
of  snow  and  again  in  February,  March  or  April, 
according  to  the  different  locality  of  the  coun- 
try, when  the  snow  is  soft  and  the  days  are  mild 
and  spring-like.  Some  very  knowing  trailers 
will  follow  up  signs  even  before  there  is  snow  on 
the  ground.  They  watch  out  for  broken 
branches,  shredded  birch  bark  or  other  stuff 
which  the  bear  has  torn  down  to  make  his  bed. 

At  times,  however,  the  bear  will  change  his 
mind,  even  after  considerable  work  has  been 
done,  and  move  off  to  some  other  ridge  of  hills 
and  there  begin  over  again  in  what  he  has  de- 
cided a  more  favorable  situation.  It  is  a  much 
more  dangerous  job  to  tackle  a  newly  denned 
bear  than  in  the  spring  when  they  are  stupid 
from  their  long  spell  of  hibernation.  Rarely 
does  a  lone  hunter  undertake  to  kill  a  bear  in 

262 


DEN  BEAES.  ^63 

his  den.  It  requires  two  persons  for  safety  and 
convenience  of  work. 

In  hunting  out  a  bear's  den  a  knowledge  of 
what  is  a  likely  locality  shortens  the  work  very 
much.  There  are  dens  found  in  freak  and  un- 
looked  for  places,  but  as  a  general  rule  there 
are  certain  conditions  that  go  towards  their  se- 
lection and  one  who  knows  these,  narrows  down 
his  area  of  hunting  very  considerably. 

The  dens  are,  as  a  rule,  on  a  high  elevation 
with  a  southern  aspect.  This  selection  is  made, 
no  doubt,  with  the  knowledge  given  by  instinct 
that  it  keeps  clear  longer  in  the  autumn  and 
opens  earlier  with  the  melting  snows  of  spring. 
In  my  long  experience  I  have  found  bears  three 
times  in  very  unlikely  places.  One  time,  when 
on  a  long  trail  with  dispatches,  two  Indians  and 
myself  jumped,  one  after  the  other,  from  the 
trunk  of  a  large  fallen  pine,  with  our  snow 
shoes,  fair  and  square  onto  a  very  large  bear 
who  had  in  the  fall  made  his  bed  at  the  lea  side 
of  this  shelter  and  allowed  the  winter  snows  to 
fall  and  bury  him. 

It  was  only  three  weeks  later  when  we  were 
returning  by  the  same  trail  that  the  leading  man 
of  the  party,  when  getting  to  this  spot  and  look- 
ing for  an  easy  place  to  clamber  up  onto  the 
giant  trunk  noticed  a  suspiciously  frosted  little 
breathing  hole  in  the  snow.     Word  was  passed 


264  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

back  that  perhaps  there  was  a  bear  there.  As 
we  had  no  firearms  in  tlie  party  not  even  a  pis- 
tol, tlie  first  tiling  to  do  was  to  cut  good  stout 
hardwood  poles  about  five  feet  long. 

A  large  place  was  well  tramped  down  with 
our  snow  shoes  to  insure  good  solid  footing  and 
when  all  was  ready,  with  our  packs  and  extra 
things  out  of  the  way,  one  of  the  party  was  de- 
tailed to  get  up  on  the  tree  trunk  and  with  a 
strong  birch  lever  insert  it  near  where  we  lo- 
cated the  bear  to  be  and  pry  him  out,  the  other 
two  to  belabor  him  with  their  poles.  The  man 
on  the  log  had  such  a  strong  leverage  that  his 
first  effort  broke  the  bear  clear  out  of  the  snow 
and  before  he  had  time  to  rouse  from  his  stupor 
he  was  dead. 

The  Indians,  who  were  middle-aged  men, 
thought  it  a  great  joke  that  we  should  all  have 
tramped  on  this  bear  and  three  weeks  later 
found  and  killed  him.  The  skin,  of  course,  was 
at  its  primest  state,  so  we  packed  it  turn  and 
turn  about,  to  the  fort,  where  each  received  his 
share  of  its  value. 

Another  time  I  camped  almost  on  the  very 
shore  of  a  small  lake  with  a  youth  for  my  com- 
panion. We  were  to  start  a  yard  of  moose  in 
the  early  morning  on  a  mountain  on  the  oppo- 
site shore.  In  the  morning  while  I  was  cooking 
breakfast,  the  youth  went  a  few  yards  away  to 


DEN  BEARS.  265 

cut  a  pole  to  hang  our  extra  provisions  on  that 
we  were  leaving  at  the  camp. 

He  had  hardly  left  the  fireplace  when  I 
heard  him  call  me.  There  I  found  him  gazing 
intently  at  a  telltale  frosted  hole  in  the  snow. 
We  both  came  to  the  same  conclusion  that  it 
was  the  breathing  hole  of  some  animal  and  that 
animal  most  likely  a  bear.  We  decided  not  to 
disturb  him  until  our  moose  hunt  was  over,  so 
quietly  withdrew  from  the  vicinity.  I  may  sa^- 
to  close  this  incident  that  two  days  later,  after 
killing  three  moose,  we  dug  out  the  bear  sufift- 
ciently  to  locate  his  shoulder  and  shot  him  in 
his  den. 

Another  unlooked  for  place  was  when  land- 
ing at  a  portage  very  late  in  the  fall,  was  to  find 
a  half-sized  bear  had  made  his  bed  simply  at  the 
foot  of  a  stump.  There  was  no  snow  yet  on  the 
ground  and  he  woke  sufficiently  to  gaze  on  us 
with  a  stupid  stare.  The  next  minute  he  had 
his  quietus. 

I  always  seem  to  wander  away  from  my  sub- 
ject. Whether  it  adds  or  detracts  from  the  in- 
terest of  the  article  I  know  not,  but  I  assure 
the  reader  it  is  unintentional,  but  these  long 
past  incidents  and  adventures  will  crop  up  in 
my  memory  and  before  I  think  to  pull  myself  up 
they  are  committed  to  paper.    Well,  once  again  I 

The  most  likely  places  to  find  a  bear  denned 


266  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

up  are  under  a  ledge  of  rocks,  under  the  roots 
of  a  partly  fallen  tree,  under  an  over-hanging 
sand  bank,  or  in  a  rocky  crevice  in  the  moun- 
tain side.  The  hunters,  when  they  have  tracked 
him  to  or  found  his  den  begin  by  reading  all  the 
visible  signs  and  lay  their  plans  accordingly. 
If  the  bed  is  some  little  distance  back  from  the 
door  or  opening,  they  begin  by  staking  up  the 
doorway  so  nearly  closed  that  the  bear  will  have 
considerable  delay  in  getting  out. 

If  to  stake  it  is  impracticable  on  account  of 
the  formation,  they  gather  rocks  or  sections  of 
logs  and  stuff  up  most  of  the  opening.  Some 
venturesome  hunters  will  stand  a  leg  at  each 
side  of  the  opening  with  their  axe  poised  ready 
to  brain  him  while  he  is  endeavoring  to  make 
his  exit,  the  man's  companion  prodding  him 
out  from  the  rear.  Other  hunters  (the  writer 
amongst  them)  prefer  to  remain  with  his  rifle 
ready  for  business  at  a  few  yards  from  the  door- 
way.    This  is  safer  and  more  reasonable. 

Most  bears  come  out  into  daylight  iu  a  more 
or  less  dazed  state,  but  I  have  known  some  with 
the  very  first  introduction  of  the  pole  into  the 
rear  premises  to  come  out  with  a  rush,  carrying 
obstructions  and  everything  before  them.  At 
such  times  unless  a  man  is  pretty  nervy  he  is 
apt  to  get  "Bear  Fever"  and  he  should  not  be 
blamed,  for  the  situation  is  trying. 


DEN  BEARS.  267 

When  the  bear  has  taken  up  his  quarters 
far  back  in  a  crevice  of  the  rocks  where  a  pole 
from  the  surface  can  find  no  opening  to  be  intro- 
duced, then  the  plan  of  smoking  him  out  has  to 
be  resorted  to.  It  is  done  in  this  Avay.  The 
stuff  to  be  used,  some  birch  bark  to  ignite  it  on 
top  of  which  is  placed  rotten  wood  or  broken  up 
punk  if  procurable,  is  rammed  back  a  distance 
into  the  hole.  At  the  end  of  the  withdrawn  pole 
a  lighted  twist  of  bark  is  pushed  back  and  the 
doorway  quickly  blocked  as  nearly  tight  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  hunter  retires  at  once  to  a  safe  distance 
with  his  gun  ready  for  action  and  awaits  events. 
He  does  not,  as  a  rule,  have  to  wait  long,  for 
when  that  smoke  becomes  unbearable,  Mr,  Bear 
conies  out  in  a  hurry  and  a  pretty  mad  bear  at 
that.  It  is  not  advisable  to  introduce  too  much 
inflammable  substance,  for  it  is  apt  to  spoil  the 
fur  when  the  bear  comes  thru  the  fiery  ordeal. 
Rotten  popple  is  next  to  punk  to  make  a  pung- 
ent and  unbearable  smoke.  When  such  pene- 
trates the  bear's  nostrils  he  is  bound  to  wake  up 
and  his  one  desire  is  to  get  fresh  air  imme- 
diately. 

The  tracking  of  a  bear  even  in  pretty  deep 
snow  takes  time,  for  unless  he  knows  some  one 
is  after  him  he  circles  and  zigzags  about,  which 
trail  requires  attention  to  under  run  success- 


26S  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

fully.  However,  once  he  becomes  possessed 
with  the  knowledge  that  he  is  being  pursued,  he 
makes  a  pretty  straight  line  away  from  danger. 
At  such  a  time  a  small  cur  dog  is  invaluable,  for 
while  he  will  not  attack  the  bear,  by  his  yelping 
and  barking  he  delays  his  progress  and  at  each 
pause  of  the  bear  the  hunter  is  gaining  ground. 

To  kill  a  bear  that  is  already  denned  the  dog 
is  better  left  at  home,  for  he  will  be  of  no  use 
and  you  run  the  risk  (if  he  is  plucky)  of  his 
being  killed  in  the  den.  For  all  kinds  of  hunt- 
ing I  have  found  the  small  dog  much  preferable 
to  the  one  of  large  size.  A  small  dog  can 
readily  be  put  in  one's  game  bag  and  carried  up 
near  the  game  one  is  to  start.  He  is  lighter 
and  takes  up  less  room  in  a  canoe,  the  bones  and 
scraps  of  the  camp  are  sufficient  for  his  sup- 
port, he  will  run  in  and  nip  at  the  heels  of  a 
moose  or  deer  and  get  out  of  the  way  and  repeat 
his  barking,  while  a  big  dog  would  be  getting 
into  trouble  and  endangering  his  life. 

I  have  often  carried  my  hunting  dog  in  my 
game  bag  up  a  mountain  and  only  slipped  him 
when  the  moose  had  jumped  his  bed.  The  dog 
being  fresh  he  very  soon  had  the  moose  at  a 
standstill.  In  hunting  bear  the  small  dog  has 
the  discretion  to  keep  out  of  his  reach  and  be 
contented  with  barking  and  running  him 
around.     Whereas  the  bigger  dogs  are  fearless 


DEN   BEARS.  269 

and  run  in  on  the  quarry  generally  with  fatal 
results  to  themselves,  for  there  is  no  modern 
pugilist  quicker  with  his  fists  than  a  bear  with 
his  paw,  and  let  the  bear  get  but  one  good  whack 
at  a  dog  and  that  dog  is  no  better  thereafter 
than  a  dead  dog. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE   MISHAPS  OF   RALSON. 

Among  the  many  young  apprentice  officers 
who  have  been  under  my  orders  in  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  none  was  so  conspicuously  un- 
fortunate as  Ralson,  His  bungling  into  trou- 
ble became  so  frequent  that  it  got  to  be  a  by- 
word amongst  the  other  clerks  and  employes 
and  at  last  they  came  to  me  and  said,  "Mr.  Hun- 
ter, you  ought  really  to  forbid  Ralson's  going 
outside  the  stockades  unless  some  one  is  along 
to  take  care  of  him." 

For  the  short  while  he  was  in  our  service 
(three  years)  he  had,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  rec- 
ord for  varied  mishaps.  These  were  of  so  fre- 
quent occurrence  that  at  the  end  of  his  contract 
he  was  allowed  to  leave  and,  by  my  advice,  he 
returned  to  his  people  in  England.  Good  luck 
appeared  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  his  mis- 
adventures, for  somehow  he  came  out  alive,  still, 
to  say  the  least,  the  uncertainty  every  time  he 
left  the  post  as  to  whether  he  would  return,  kept 
one's  nerves  forever  on  the  ragged  edge  and  not- 
withstanding, he  quickly  became  an  adept  at 

270 


THE   MISHAPS   OF   RALSON.  271 

most  work  connected  with  the  service.  I  was 
glad  to  see  him  leave  the  service  because,  being 
under  my  orders  and  not  yet  to  man's  estate,  I 
considered  myself  in  a  great  measure  responsi- 
ble for  his  safety. 

I  call  to  memory  his  having  almost  cut  off 
the  index  finger  of  his  left  hand,  putting  the 
axe  right  thru  the  knuckle  joint.  This  bled 
profuselj^  and  he  was  on  the  sick  list  for  a  long 
while.  I  think  the  next  accident  very  shortly 
after  his  hand  healed,  was  to  put  the  corner  of 
his  axe  into  the  cap  of  his  knee.  This  was  more 
serious  than  the  other  and  took  weeks  to  get 
well.  On  the  whole  he  was  very  fortunate  not 
to  have  a  stiff  leg  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Another  time  he  undertook  to  look  for  a  man 
who  was  over-due  at  the  post  and  was  expected 
to  come  by  a  trail  near  the  lake  shore.  This 
was  a  case  of  the  biter  being  bitten,  for  the  man 
turned  up  all  right  and  had  to  join  a  party  to 
hunt  Kalson.  As  he  told  us  afterwards  he 
thought  to  improve  on  the  trail  by  cutting 
curves.  Dusk  coming  on  he  became  hopelessly 
lost  himself,  neither  being  able  to  find  the  trail 
nor  his  way  out  of  the  forest.  The  search  party 
only  found  him  the  following  afternoon,  tat- 
tered, hungry  and  generally  woe-begone.  A 
picture  of  him  taken  as  he  entered  the  square 
that  day  would  have  been  interesting. 


272  CANADIAN   WILDS. 

The  chances  are  that  he  might  never  have 
been  found  and  thus  have  perished,  liad  a  quiet- 
ing effect  on  him  for  some  days  but  tlie  okl  rest- 
lessness got  hold  of  him  again,  and  he  had  to  be 
away  hunting  up  fresh  trouble.  This  time  he 
had  a  companion  and  they  went  in  a  canoe  to 
hunt  ducks.  His  companion  (a  half-breed)  de- 
barked on  the  river  bank  to  crawl  up  to  some 
birds  and  placed  an  injunction  on  Ralson  to  re- 
main quietly  seated  in  the  canoe.  When  the 
half-breed  returned  to  the  river  bank  it  was  to 
find  the  canoe  upset  and  Ralson  sitting  on  the 
shore  dripping  wet.  On  comparing  notes  it 
was  found  a  rifle  I  had  lent  him  was  at  that  pre- 
cise moment  at  the  bottom  of  the  river  in  about 
ten  feet  of  water. 

It  would  never  do  to  return  to  the  post  apd 
report  this  mishap  and  the  loss  of  the  gun,  so 
Ealson  undressed  and  began  to  dive  for  its  re- 
covery. Robert,  the  man,  told  me,  when  de- 
scribing the  adventure,  that  he  never  laughed 
so  much  in  his  life  as  when  sitting  on  the  bank 
and  watching  Ralson  making  desperate  and  re- 
peated efforts  to  recover  the  weapon.  He  was 
finally  successful  and  exacted  a  cast  iron  prom- 
ise from  Robert  not  to  inform  the  people  at  the 
post.     A  promise  which  Robert  promptly  broke. 

An  accident,  however,  which  almost  cost  him 
his  life,  altlio  after  he  was  safe  at  the  i)ost, 


THE   MISHAPS  OF   RALSON.  273 

caused  us  considerable  merriment,  came  about 
in  this  way,  and  I  expect  he  will  remember  it 
as  long  as  he  lives,  if  jet  alive.  We  were  send- 
ing an  express  canoe  from  the  post  to  the  near- 
est point  on  the  frontier  to  mail  dispatches  to 
headquarters.  The  distance  is  about  fifty  miles 
over  lakes,  rivers  and  portages.  The  usual  time 
for  such  a  trip  was  three  days  for  the  round 
trip.  Ralson  begged  to  accompany  the  men, 
partly  for  an  outing  and  partly  to  see  the  fron- 
tier village  of  Luqueville. 

Their  route  lay  thru  a  chain  of  small  lakes 
on  which  I  had  a  couple  of  bear  traps  set.  To 
save  me  a  trip  to  visit  these  traps  I  told  Robert, 
the  guide,  to  kill  any  bear  he  found  caught  and 
reset  the  traps,  cache  the  meat  and  skin  and 
bring  it  with  them  on  their  return  journey. 
These  instructions  were  simple  enough  and  I 
was  not  anxious  about  Ralson.  Ralson,  how- 
ever, changed  all  these  plans^  for,  when  they 
reached  the  first  trap,  in  which  they  found  a 
bear  caught  and  Robert  had  killed  it,  Ral- 
son proposed  he  should  stay  behind,  skin 
and  cut  up  the  meat  and  visit  the  second  trap 
which  was  a  short  distance  off  the  canoe  route, 
and  then  he  was  to  come  home  on  foot  by  skirt- 
ing the  lakes  along  a  sometimes  used  trail,  tak- 
ing the  skin  with  him. 

*18 


274  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

Robert  tliouglit  this  plan  a  good  one  as  it 
would  expedite  matters  for  lie  and  his  compan- 
ion to  make  a  quick  trip.  When,  however,  he 
got  back  to  the  place  after  an  absence  of  about 
forty  hours  and  found  the  skin  and  meat  lying 
where  he  had  left  them  and  no  sign  of  Ralson, 
he  was  quick  to  understand  that  something  had 
happened.  What  that  something  was,  however, 
he  was  at  a  loss  to  settle  in  his  mind.  All  at 
once,  while  standing  there  considering,  the 
thought  struck  him  that  possibly  Ralson  was 
caught  in  the  other  trap.  Such  things  had  hap- 
pened to  men  accustomed  to  trapping  and  how 
much  more  likely  to  a  careless  fellow  like  the 
missing  man. 

Giving  expression  to  his  thought  Robert  and 
his  companion  both  hurried  off  towards  the 
other  trap,  which  was  about  a  mile  up  the  creek. 
When  they  came  to  a  soft  place  on  the  trail  and 
saw  only  the  footprints  of  a  man  going  and  none 
returning,  Robert  was  convinced  the  poor  fel- 
low was  in  the  trap,  whether  alive  or  dead  they 
refrained  from  contemplating.  What  a  sight 
met  their  gaze  when  coming  in  sight  of  the  bear 
pen!  There  was  poor  Ralson  lying  prone  on 
his  back  motionless  and  to  all  appearances 
dead,  the  great,  heavy  mass  of  metal  fast  to  his 
leg  and  his  pocket  knife  with  broken  blade  lying 
near  at  hand,  evidently  thrown  there  as  useless. 


TfiE   MISHAPS   OF   RALSON.  275 

They  saw  how  he  had  hacked  at  the  strong  birch 
drag  to  which  the  chain  was  fastened  until  his 
knife  became  useless  and  then  given  up  in  de- 
spair. 

Ralson,  upon  examination,  was  found  to  be 
yet  alive,  but  unconscious  and  covered  with  blue 
flies,  his  hands  and  face  were  swollen  from  the 
mosquito  poison  and  covered  with  dirt  he  had 
scratched  while  trying  to  dig  for  water.  He 
looked  a  frightful  and  pitiful  object.  Luckily 
the  men  who  had  found  him  were  quick  to  think 
and  in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time  they 
had  the  leg  freed  from  its  iron  clasp.  One  ran 
for  a  pannikin  of  cold  water  while  the  other 
twisted  a  piece  of  birch  bark  into  the  shape  of 
a  horn,  with  the  small  end  open  just  enough  to 
allow  the  water  to  trickle  thru  gently  into  his 
throat. 

Next  they  bathed  and  washed  his  face  and 
hands  and  shortly  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
him  open  his  eyes.  Robert  now  held  up  his 
head  and  placed  the  remaining  water  in  the 
pannikin  to  his  lips.  This  he  managed  to  drink 
and  blessed,  blessed  water,  it  revived  him  com- 
pletely. The  other  man  was  then  sent  back  to 
the  canoe  for  the  tea  kettle  and  provisions, 
Robert  starting  a  fire  during  his  absence.  Tea 
and  partridge  broth  made  and  administered  in 
small  quantities  at  first  helped  him  to  regain 


^76  CANADIAN  WILDS. 

his  strength.  His  youthful  vitality  soon  as- 
serted itself  and  after  he  was  propped  up  and 
made  comfortable  he  managed  to  feed  himself 
with  some  of  the  shredded  meat. 

After  partaking  of  this  food  and  drink  the 
boot  Avas  cut  off,  the  poor  swollen  foot  bathed 
and  bound  up  and  then  they  carried  him  on  an 
improvised  stretcher  very  carefully  and  ten- 
derly out  to  the  canoe.  Excepting  two  short 
portages  it  was  all  water  way  to  the  post  at 
which  place  they  arrived  just  at  dusk.  Souder, 
our  cook,  when  he  saw  them  helping  Ralson  out 
of  the  canoe  said,  "Mein  Gott !  Vich  end  of  Eal- 
son  is  sick  dis  time?  Can't  you  tole  me,  eh?" 
and  it  was  pretty  hard  to  tell  from  his  limp  ap- 
pearance. 

After  he  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  be 
questioned  as  to  how  he  got  into  the  trap  he 
said  he  had  reached  into  the  back  of  the  house 
to  affix  the  bait  and  forgot  the  trap  and  stepped 
into  it.  The  meat  that  he  had  cut  up  was,  of 
course,  spoiled,  but  the  skin  after  being  washed 
and  scraped,  proved  to  have  sustained  no 
damage. 

Ralson  had  no  further  mishaps  in  this  coun- 
try for  when  his  foot  was  healed  he  took  his  dis- 
charge and  returned  to  a  well-off  mother  in 
London  who  could  afford  to  have  a  keeper  to 
care   for   him   if   so   inclined.     This   happened 


THE  MISHAPS  OF  EALSON.  277 

years  ago  and  as  I  never  heard  from  him  he  may 
have  joined  the  English  Yeomanry  and  gone  to 
South  Africa  and  been  killed  on  the  firing  line. 
If  so,  his  mishaps  are  finished  and  so  is  my 
story. 


Camp  i£^  Trail  Methods 

Interesting  Information  for  all  Lovers  of 
Nature.    What  to  Take  and  What  to  Do 


By  E.  KREPS 


i^^assi»:>W;^B 


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Boats. 
XL     Snowshoes    and    their 
Use. 
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Buckskins. 

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Fish   and    Hides. 
XIX.     Miscellaneous     Sugges- 
tions. 


I. 


II. 
III. 


IV. 


V. 

VI. 
VII. 

VIII. 
IX. 


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fit. 

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Pack  Straps,  Pack 
Sacks  and  Pack  Bas- 
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CoitaiDS  Conplett  Instnictions  about  Bu)Lig,  Handling  and  Grading  Furs,  includiig  Size,  Colir.  Quiit) 

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V.  Why     Trappers      Sell     at 
Home. 
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IX.  Prices  of   Long  Ago. 


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Tail  and   How   to  Grade. 


X.  Miscellaneous  Information.    XX\'III.  Badger  and  How  to  Grade. 


XI.  Foxes — Black,   Silver, 

Cross,  and  How  to  Grade. 

XII.  Foxes — Red,    Gray,    Kitt  or 

Swift  and  How  to  Grade. 

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XIV.  Muskrat — How    to    Grade. 
XV.  Skunk  and  How  to  Grade. 

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XVIII.  Opossum — How    to    Grade. 

XIX.  Wolves    and    Coyotes    and 

How  to  Grade. 


XXIX.  Wolverine — How  to  Grade. 

XXX.  White      Weasel      (ermine) 

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XXXV.  Roots— Ginseng    and    Gold- 
en Seal — How  to  Classify. 


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